Despite the bee population surviving the recent cold winter better than expected (AG, 19 June), a further stark warning on the future of bees - and hence the human race - has come from Prof Andrew Watkinson, director of the Living with Environmental Change programme. He says that, in the case of bumblebees, the decline has been "catastrophic".
Honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and even wasps play a vital role in feeding people through the pollination of crops. At a recent conference Andrew confirmed that if bees and other pollinators were to disappear completely, the cost to the UK economy could be up to £440m per year.
In a bid to save the declining insects, the government has set up a £10m scheme for nine science projects exploring how and why the pollinators are under threat. Lord Henley, the Environment Minister, said: "This initiative will help some of our world-class researchers to identify why bee numbers are declining, and that will help us to take the rich action to help."