Europe is coordinating efforts to determine the status of wild pollinators on the continent

Pollinating insects are a vital part of global biodiversity and are essential for much of our food production. However, in recent decades, their populations have been declining severely and across Europe , primarily due to human activity.

Faced with this reality, the European Union has taken a decisive step to understand and reverse the decline of wild pollinators on the continent (bees, butterflies, and hoverflies): the mandatory adoption of a common method for all Member States to monitor, in a coordinated and standardized manner, the status and dynamics of their populations . This method is called EUPoMS (European Pollinator Monitoring Scheme) and will consist of a monitoring network across all EU countries, to which Spain must also contribute information. This is Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2188, a key instrument in European nature restoration legislation that aims to ensure that, before 2030, each Member State's environmental policies are accompanied by robust data on the status of populations of the different groups of native wild pollinators. CREAF is participating in this new initiative with Jordi Bosch, its own researcher and expert on bees, on the expert committee that will launch and evaluate the results of this European monitoring network.

Pollinating insects in Europe are threatened by multiple factors, including habitat loss, intensive agriculture, pesticide use, and climate change , among others. Their disappearance jeopardizes the proper functioning of ecosystems and human food security. Therefore, the new European regulations aim to establish order by defining a scientifically robust and replicable monitoring system across the European territory. “This monitoring integrates the main groups of wild pollinators: wild bees, hoverflies, butterflies, and beehives,” explains Jordi Bosch, a researcher at CREAF specializing in bees and a member of the EUPoMS expert committee.

For CREAF, this objective represents a triple success. Firstly, it contributes directly to the conservation of wild pollinators ; secondly, it acts as a liaison and assists administrations in implementing this regulation in Catalonia and Spain; and finally, it highlights the direct link that science has had in the design of this regulation.

The regulation requires each member state to deploy a network of monitoring points randomly distributed and representative of the different ecosystems, and to monitor them monthly using a standardized methodology. In the case of Spain, this will require at least 100 points spread throughout the country . For diurnal pollinators, monitoring will be based on one-kilometer-long transects. For nocturnal pollinators, light traps will be used.

All the data obtained by the different Member States will serve to calculate a common indicator that will combine the diversity and abundance of the species and populations monitored for each region, excluding invasive species from each territory.

One of the key aspects of the new regulations is the ability to measure not only the population status of different groups and species, but also the impact of restoration measures implemented by each country in the coming years. The first assessment period will run from 2026 to 2030, and subsequent monitoring will be conducted in six-year cycles. This continuity will allow for the detection of trends, comparison of results between regions, and an evaluation of whether the policies implemented—from habitat improvement to the reduction of agricultural impacts—are having tangible results on wild pollinator populations.

Between 2021 and 2023, the SPRING project was carried out with the mission of making the EUPoMS monitoring program more efficient and applicable to all member states. The insect ecology and pollination group from CREAF and the Granollers Museum of Natural Sciences coordinated the project in the Atlantic-Mediterranean region (France, Spain, and Portugal), and with the participation of more than one hundred volunteers, they sampled 52 different locations throughout Spain.
One of the main focuses of the SPRING project was training, since conducting scientifically robust monitoring of wild pollinators across the continent requires specialized personnel. To this end, professionals were trained to accurately identify the multitude of pollinator species that exist (often very difficult to distinguish from one another).

Aside from monitoring pollinators, the new European regulation establishes the actions that member states must take to try to reverse the decline in wild pollinators by 2030. In this context, the Department of Climate Action, Food, and Rural Agenda of the Government of Catalonia has launched the Intersectoral Plan for the Conservation of Wild Pollinators in Catalonia (PIPOL) . This plan, in addition to carrying out standardized monitoring of butterflies, bees, and hoverflies, also proposes other measures related to the agricultural sector and the greening of urban areas and road verges. This strategic plan aims to coordinate actions to preserve and raise awareness of wild pollinators in Catalonia and the ecosystem services they provide until 2030. Within the framework of EUPoMS, the Insect Ecology and Pollination group at CREAF has already begun monitoring along five transects throughout Catalonia.

The PIPOL rollout has begun with a detailed report on the status and threats to pollinators in Catalonia . Standardized monitoring will allow researchers not only to understand pollinator population trends in Catalonia, but also to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures proposed by the PIPOL plan.