It is only recently that the immense economic value of pollination to agriculture has been appreciated. At the same time, the alarming collapse in populations of bees and other pollinators has highlighted the urgency of addressing this issue. This book focuses on the specific measures and practices that the emerging science of pollination ecology is identifying to conserve and promote animal pollinators in agroecosystems. It reviews the expanding knowledge base on pollination services, providing evidence to document the status, trends and importance of pollinators to sustainable agricultural production. It provides practical and specific measures that land managers can undertake to ensure that agroecosystems are supportive and friendly to pollinators. It draws on the Global Pollination Project, supported by UNEP/GEF and implemented by FAO and seven partner countries (Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa), which serve to provide "lessons from the field".

As the discipline of pollination ecology moves from describing the extent of a pollinator crisis, to identifying what can be done about it, there is a need to share and highlight very practical measures that will support sustainable crop biotic pollination services. Identifying these practices will require a mix of farmer and natural historian knowledge and scientific research. In this publication, we will outline the practices that have been so far identified, and what experiences may contribute to sharing the effectiveness of these measures under different circumstances.

This book discusses the interplay among bees, agriculture and the environment. Both managed and wild bees are critical for successful pollination of numerous fruit, vegetable, oilseed and legume seed crops and are considered here. So is treatment of how bees also impact the agro-ecosystem in ways beyond simple pollination, such as by transporting pollen from genetically modified plants and by enhancing biological control strategies. The principles and examples are international. The concept is in line with current thinking of pollination as an important ecological process, and an understanding of agriculture as disturbance ecology.

Our bee populations are under threat. Over the past 60 years, they have lost much of their natural habitat and are under assault from pesticides and intensive farming. We rely on bees and other insects to pollinate our fruit and vegetables and, without them, our environment and economy will be in crisis.The Business of Bees provides the first integrated account of diminishing bee populations, as well as other pollinators, from an interdisciplinary perspective. It explores the role of corporate responsibility and governance as they relate to this critical issue and examines what the impact will be on consumers, companies, stock markets and ultimately on global society if bee populations continue to decline at a dangerous rate.The book considers the issue of global bee population decline from a variety of disciplines, combining the perspectives of academics in accounting, science and humanities with those of practitioners in the finance industry. The chapters explore the impact of the rapid decline in pollinator populations on the natural world, on corporations, on the stock market and on accounting. The Business of Bees will be essential reading for those in academia, business and finance sectors and anyone invested in the future of our planet.

Human well-being relies critically on ecosystem services provided by nature. Examples include water and air quality regulation, nutrient cycling and decomposition, plant pollination and flood control, all of which are dependent on biodiversity. They are predominantly public goods with limited or no markets and do not command any price in the conventional economic system, so their loss is often not detected and continues unaddressed and unabated. This in turn not only impacts human well-being, but also seriously undermines the sustainability of the economic system. It is against this background that TEEB: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project was set up in 2007 and led by the United Nations Environment Programme to provide a comprehensive global assessment of economic aspects of these issues. This book, written by a team of international experts, represents the scientific state of the art, providing a comprehensive assessment of the fundamental ecological and economic principles of measuring and valuing ecosystem services and biodiversity, and showing how these can be mainstreamed into public policies. This volume and subsequent TEEB outputs will provide the authoritative knowledge and guidance to drive forward the biodiversity conservation agenda for the next decade.

This booklet describes pollinators and their connection to agriculture in Canada. It includes information on the lives of important pollinators (specifically: bees, wasps, flies, butterflies and moths, and beetles) and how to protect wild pollinators, particularly on farms and ranches.--Includes text from document.