The assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on pollinators, pollination and food production

The goal of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services towards conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development. To achieve this goal, the Platform has four functions: (i) Knowledge generation: to identify knowledge needs of decision makers, and catalyse efforts to generate new knowledge; (ii) Assessment: to deliver global, regional and thematic assessments, and promote and catalyse support for sub-global assessment; (iii) Policy support tools: to identify policy relevant tools/methodologies, facilitate their use, and promote and catalyse their further development; and (iv) Capacity building: to prioritize key capacity building needs, and provide and call for financial and other support for priority needs. This report assesses the current knowledge on pollinators, pollination and their links to food production.

The overall aim of the thematic assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production is to assess animal pollination as a regulating ecosystem service underpinning food production in the context of its contribution to nature’s gifts to people and supporting a good quality of life. To achieve this, the focus is on the role of native and exotic pollinators, the status of, and trends in pollinators and pollinator-plant networks and pollination, drivers of change, impacts on human well-being, food production in response to pollination declines and deficits and the effectiveness of responses from various governance systems to pollination declines and deficits. The scope is global, covering all continents except Antarctica, where no pollinators are known. The assessment brings together contributions not only from natural, social and economic science perspectives but also from knowledge of indigenous and local community stakeholders and practitioners.

The assessment strives to critically review the broadest range of evidence and make its findings readily available to support policy and management responses to declines and deficits in pollination. The report represents the first IPBES thematic assessment deliverable that aims to identify policy-relevant findings for decision-making in government, the private sector and civil society, as well as helping to demonstrate how an essential ecosystem service could potentially contribute to the post-2015 development agenda1.