The Green Party has renewed calls for a ban on harmful pesticides which are harming certain species of bees.
A report by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has found species of wild bee who feed on oilseed rape crops treated with neonicotinoids saw numbers fall by a third between 2002 and 2011 [1].
Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said: “The findings of this report paint a concerning picture of not just a collapse in pollinator numbers, but a far broader degradation of the natural environment on which we all depend.
“Bees are essential to the production of a third of all the food we eat in the UK, as well as three quarters of that across the world.
“The Green Party has long campaigned for a ban on neonicotinoids and one important step towards protecting our bees is outlaw these harmful pesticides for good.”
Certain neonicotinoids were temporarily banned by the EU in 2013, but this has already been weakened to allow the spraying of oilseed rape [2].
Bennett added:
“The need for the Government to impose a ban is even more pressing with the UK set to leave the European Union in coming years.
“But we also need to reconsider our industrial, monoculture-based, pesticide-heavy food production systems, which are not sustainable and not providing us with the food security essential for our future."
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