Pollinators such as wild bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies are vital for biodiversity, food production, and ecosystem health. In the EU alone, over 80% of wild flowering plants and 75% of food crops depend to some degree on animal pollination. Yet many pollinator species are in decline, with pesticide exposure, habitat loss, climate change, and disease among the main drivers. Current EU risk assessments for pesticides focus almost exclusively on honey bees and individual substances, which does not reflect the complexity of real agricultural landscapes, where multiple pollinator species encounter mixtures of chemicals over time.
PollinERA is developing a next-generation, systems-based approach to assessing and managing pesticide risks to a broad diversity of pollinators. The project combines field monitoring, laboratory testing, predictive toxicology, population and landscape modelling, and active stakeholder engagement. Over its first 18 months, it has:
1. Filled critical ecotoxicological knowledge gaps through standardised test protocols and species sensitivity data for multiple underrepresented pollinator taxa;
2. Implemented integrated pesticide–pollinator co-monitoring in three countries across two major cropping systems;
3. Developed advanced predictive toxicology and population modelling tools;
4. Built a prototype web-based ERA platform to test scenarios at the landscape scale.
These outputs will enable more representative, realistic, and policy-relevant risk assessments, contributing directly to EU biodiversity targets, the Farm to Fork Strategy, and the EU Pollinators Initiative.
