foghornleghorn
Field Bee
Saw this on facebook, may be of interest to those on here for different reasons.
Please canvass all MEP,s This is so important Save the Local Honey Bee.
MAIL TO EUROPEAN MEMBERS TO REINTRODUCE THE AMENDMENT FOR THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF LOCAL BEES
SUBJECT: Re-introduction of the amendment for the legal protection of local bees.
Dear MEP,
I am writing to you as a member of an association working for the protection of local bees.
After the adoption of the report on beekeeping, we are delighted that the fate of local bees was finally mentioned in Brussels but disappointed that their “legal protection” has been removed from the final text.
On Tuesday 23 January, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) of the European Parliament adopted almost unanimously (38+, 1-) a report in which POLLINIS proposed 11 amendments for the protection of local bees from Europe. In this report, it recognized : “the need to preserve the extraordinary genetic heritage, diversity and capacity for adaptation of local, endemic honeybee populations, each tailored over generations to the particularities of their local environment, and whose diversity is important in the fight against invasive species, including parasites and diseases”.
However, we speak against the deletion of the text to legally protect local bees. I am writing to you today to ask you to sign for the re-introduction, before February 21, of the amendment for the legal protection of European local bees, deleted from the text voted on 23 January. The amendment we wish to re-introduce is the following : “Calls on the European Commission and Member States to put in place measures to increase legal protection and financial support for local honey bee ecotypes and populations throughout the European Union, including by way of legally protected locally endemic honeybee conservation areas”.
The importance of protecting local bees throughout Europe is being recognized by all citizens and scientific actors who are looking into the issue. Indeed, multiple factors are destroying bee colonies around the world today, but local breeds are also facing the massive importation of other subspecies of bees that cause uncontrolled hybridization. They hybridize local bee populations that are gradually losing their specific morphological, physiological and behavioral characteristics, shaped over the millennia that allowed them to adapt optimally to their environments.
In Europe there are about ten different subspecies or geographical races. For the last several decades, more than 40 associations all over Europe have been working on the conservation of bees, which must be preserved for the common good of everyone, including beekeepers.
Several measures have already been partially implemented within the European Union. It is essential to urgently create a legal framework to harmonize the protection of bees that is effective and perennial unchanging.
In just a few days, more than 134,000 citizens across the European Union are signatories to the petition for the legal protection of local bees and have actively supported this measure!
For local bees, sign to re-introduce the amendment for the legal protection of local bees before 28 February!
All citizens sensitive to the preservation of their local bees are counting on you!
Thank you for your help,
