An EU coordinated pilot project for the surveillance of bee mortality [1], which is expected to help the Commission’s efforts to tackle this emerging problem, was unveiled yesterday during a conference in Brussels.
The goal of this project is to gather reliable data on bee mortalities from Member States. A number of Member States will participate in the project, which will be co-financed by the Commission. The conference discussed ongoing work to determine the true nature of bee mortalities within the European Union.
It was organised by the European Commission and the newly appointed EU Reference Laboratory for Bee Health (ANSES Sophia Antipolis Laboratory, France). The Commission and Member States re-asserted their commitment to the issue of bee health, and also noted the importance of the involvement and commitment of all actors in this field, if the true extent of the problem is to be ascertained, and workable, practical solutions found.
This work carries on the momentum created by the publication of the Commission’s communication on Bee health in December 2010. The communication highlighted a number of important issues for further work: notably the need to fill the gaps in current knowledge, and the need to better coordinate research in the area of bee health, including the creation of an EU Reference Laboratory.
The document also emphasised the need for improved communication between all relevant actors: the conference yesterday was an important milestone in this regard. For more information, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/bees/index_en.htm [2]