State of pollinator health in Canada
Native pollinators
European honey bees
Key actors
Strategies to improve pollinator health
Plans
Municipal plans - Toronto, Vancouver, etc 200 municipalities have some form of restrictions on pesticide use
Provincial plans - generally anaemic, a bit in Ontario
Federal plans
Legislative changes
Municipal by-laws
Provincial Bee Acts
Federal Pest Control Products Act
Program supports
Habitat
Disease prevention - limited tracking and monitoring of commercial honey bee movement
Manage commercial populations movement to protect wild populations
Limitations of biosecurity regs
IPM
Sustainable honey production protocols
Markets
Info campaigns targeted to land users
Notes:
From Patrick Secord
OMAFRA and the Ontario Beekeepers Association provide resources for both hobbiest and commercial beekeepers to manage pests, pesticides, pathogens and parasites (Varroa Destructor being the most detrimental to colony health).
Other local (Ontario) actors contributing to health of the apiculture industry through education and research include Niagara College (recently adding a Commercial Beekeepers program), and the U of Guelph Honey Bee Research Centre, At the request of Sustain Ontario there is a a paper which explores beekeeping policy in urban Ontario (Berquist et al., 2012).
https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/committees/finance-economic-affairs/parliament-42/transcripts/committee-transcript-2020-jan-24#P1055_286822
On the matter of Sustainable Honey production, see transcript about issues of dumping which undermines local beekeeping by flooding the market with cheap (and likely adulterated).
International: England, Scotland, Ireland good plans, US EPA national plan 2015, encourages state plans. Voluntary but 30 current exist and 45 exist or in development. Stack-Whitney and Singer et al 2020 evaluated 30 plans. Plans are generally very weak.
10 policies for pollinators
Dick et al. multiple pollinators strategies
PMRA recently updated it's pesticide use modelling?
ON requires mandatory IPM training to access neonics
Market limits on untreated seed. Research shows limited value to seed treatments?
CEC native pollinator program which bolsters drive for a national plan?
PMRA putting out crop specific pollinator strategies guides, https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/ag-guides
Nalepa, R. and Colla, S.R., 2023. Toward a wild pollinator strategy for Canada: expert-recommended solutions and policy levers. FACETS. https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2022-0204
Colla, S.R., an Nalepa, R.. 2023. Conserving Canada’s Wild Pollinators: National Strategy Recommendations. Report. https://www.savethebumblebees.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ConservingCanadasWildPollinators.pdf
Sheila Colla, Rachel Nalepa. June 23, 2023. Working towards a wild pollinator strategy for Canada. Canadian Geographic. https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/working-towards-a-wild-pollinator-strategy-for-canada/
Liczner, A., Schuster, R., Richardson, L, and Colla, S. (2023). Identifying conservation priority areas for North American bumble bee species in Canada under current and future climate scenarios, Conservation Science and Practice, July.
York University. June 23, 2023. National pollinator strategy needed to save Canada's wild bees, say researchers. Media Release by York University. Features Sheila Colla, Rachel Nalepa. https://www.yorku.ca/news/2023/06/22/national-pollinator-strategy-needed-to-save-canadas-wild-bees-say-york-university-researchers/
Picked up by Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-national-pollinator-strategy-canada-wild.html)
Discussed on the CHCH Morning NewsCast, Hamilton TV, June 23, 2023. The Need to Bee Careful.
