Safeguard’s Introductory Video is Here

We are thrilled to announce the release of Safeguard’s brand-new introductory video! In just four minutes, the video offers an insightful overview of the project’s mission and objectives and the critical issue of wild pollinator declines.

The video is now available for viewing on YouTube, so be sure to check it out and share it widely to help spread awareness about the Safeguard project’s mission to help reverse the loss of wild pollinators across Europe and beyond.

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Recent Safeguard Publications

Project Poster

Safeguard’s brand-new project poster presents the project’s concepts, objectives, mission and consortium, and will be used to introduce the project at physical conferences, meetings, and stakeholder events. Feel free to download and spread it around!

Policy corner

EU Pollinators Initiative – EU Parliament wants more ambition

On the 25th of July 2023, the European Parliament released a draft motion for a resolution on the revised Pollinators Initiative. The resolution generally supports the Initiative and pushes for more ambition. Regarding urban areas, the resolution underlines the need to incorporate the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services into urban planning practices to protect pollinator populations. It also calls on the Commission to “assess new avenues for financing the measures needed to meet the objectives of the EU Pollinators Initiative and underlines that the initiative must mobilise sufficient additional financial resources and secure commitments and investments at EU and Member State levels on a scale and with an urgency that will contribute to halting pollinator losses by 2030”.

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Pesticides derogation

In January 2023, the EU Court of Justice presented a very clear ruling on pesticide derogations. Approval to use banned pesticides can only be given in very special and unforeseen circumstances. As a result of this ruling, some countries withdrew derogations that allowed the use of highly dangerous pesticides. However, others did not. Following absence of reaction from the European Commission, a series of Member States kept issuing derogations for EU-banned pesticides. Since the beginning of the year, PAN Europe has identified that, from the derogations disclosed on the Commission database, 29 derogations for EU-banned pesticides have been provided by 14 EU countries. Therefore, Pan Europe wrote a letter to the Commission on the 19th of July to flag the issue.

Read the letter

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Nature Restoration Law (NRL)

MEPs voted in Plenary on the 12th of July in favour of the proposal. However important points were amended relating to the scope of the regulation, the level of ambition of the restoration targets and timing. The final regulation will be less ambitious than the Commission’s original proposal and will focus mainly on Natura 2000 areas. Article 9 on agricultural ecosystems has been completely deleted by the Parliament, while article 4 has been made weaker. However, ambition relating to article 8 on pollinators has been conserved.

The Spanish Presidency is already engaging in the trilogue negotiations. The first trilogue session started just a week after the Parliament vote. Trilogue III are foreseen on the 13th of November. In early December, the Envi committee should vote, followed by COREPER I mid-December. The NRL could potentially be finalised at the end of the Spanish presidency at the end of 2023.

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Sustainable use of pesticides regulation (SUR)

The proposal (adopted by the Commission in June 2022) sets legally binding targets at EU level to reduce by 50% the use and the risk of chemical pesticides as well as the use of the more hazardous pesticides by 2030. It also sets rules about restricting use of pesticides in protected areas and other sensitive areas.

The regulation is already months behind schedule due to contentious issues and the Parliament’s Agri Committee’s tactics to push it back. However, the green MEP Sarah Wiener, lead on the file for the Environment Committee, notified that ‘there will be something substantial in November when the votes are going in the Plenary”.

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News

Integrating pollinator conservation into urban greening plans: Safeguard’s second urban-greening workshop

Safeguard organised a second online webinar focused on urban greening and pollinators: “Urban pollinators: how can cities protect pollinators and build resilience to climate change?”. The event was held online on September 20th, 2023 and addressed the topic of climate adaptation and pollinators in cities. The aim of the workshop was to help provide keys for city managers to optimise co-benefits for pollinator conservation and climate through urban greening and highlight best practices.
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