Insect pollinators are vital to the existence of almost 90 percent of the world’s flowering plants, including a large portion of food products. Blueberries and cherries, for instance, depend on honey bee pollination. But pollinator populations are falling amid what has been termed an “insect pollinator health crisis,” and in the absence of sweeping international or federal action on this issue, it falls to state legislatures to come up with innovative solutions.
For the first time, researchers at the University of Missouri have catalogued every pollinator protection policy enacted by state governments from 2000-2017. The resulting database of information allows everyone from legislators to the general public to study how state lawmakers have addressed the issue over time.
“To monitor a problem of this scale, we need to be able to see what kind of progress we are making across the country,” said Damon Hall, an assistant professor jointly appointed in MU’s School of Natural Resources and the College of Engineering. “Until now, no one had put together a complete collection of legislation covering all 50 states. This creates a problem, because how do you write effective laws without knowing what has come before in other states?”
Upon examining the policies, Hall and his colleagues determined that states boasted far more innovation and productivity in developing solutions than the federal government. At the federal level, only four bills were passed during the 17-year period that addressed pollinator health. During the same period, a total of 109 relevant bills were passed across 36 state legislatures, while 14 states did not pass any.
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Image via University of Missouri.