Europe’s Wild Pollinators at Risk: Bees, Bumblebees, Butterflies Face Increasing Threats

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has issued a warning about increasing threats to the survival of wild pollinators in Europe, as stated in a report released on Saturday, October 11.

Currently, 10% of Europe’s wild bee species are at risk of extinction. Out of the 1,928 species assessed, at least 172 are in danger of vanishing, a significant increase from 77 in 2014. Fifteen species of bumblebees—crucial for the pollination of legumes such as peas, beans, peanuts, and clover—as well as fourteen species of cellophane bees, which help pollinate daisy family plants and trees like red maples and willows, are now considered threatened.

The miner bee Simpanurgus phyllopodus, the sole representative of its kind in Europe, is now listed as critically endangered. The latest IUCN Red List assessments also indicate that 15% of European butterflies face extinction (65 species out of 442 assessed), up from 37 in 2010.

Over 40% of butterflies native to the European region—found nowhere else in the world—are now threatened or near threatened. One species, the Madeiran Large White (Pieris wollastoni), previously confined to the Portuguese island of the same name, is now officially declared extinct.

The primary cause of this decline is the intensification of agriculture, characterized by heavy use of pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers, leading to the destruction of habitats, particularly flower-rich meadows. Moreover, the effects of climate change are now impacting 52% of the threatened butterfly species, nearly double the figure reported in the previous assessment.

According to the IUCN, urgent action is needed. “Four out of every five species of crops and wildflowers in the European Union rely on insect pollination”, reminds Grethel Aguilar, the Director General of the IUCN.