Protecting Pollinators

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario presented staff from three Ontario ministries with her ECO Recognition Award for protecting Ontario’s pollinators.

The multi-ministry team created a Pollinator Health Strategy and Action Plan that includes actions and dedicated funding to protect pollinators, which include certain species of birds, bees and other insects, and a commitment to ongoing research.

The province’s environmental watchdog presented awards to 63 staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), and the Ministry of the Environment of Climate Change (MOECC) at a ceremony held at Queen’s Park.

Elements of the Pollinator Health Strategy and Action Plan include:

• making a regulation to reduce the use of neonicotinoid insecticides, a known threat to pollinators, in grain, corn and soybean farming
• creating financial compensation programs to support commercial beekeepers
• co-ordinating science, research and monitoring to help implement the strategy
• undertaking extensive consultation and communication efforts

The plan set ambitious targets to:

• reduce by 80% the acreage of neonicotinoid-treated crops
• lower the mortality rate of over-wintering honey bees by at least 15% by 2020
• protect, restore and enhance one million acres of pollinator habitat in Ontario.

The Environmental Commissioner’s Recognition Award recognizes Ontario civil servants for their work on projects that are innovative, go beyond legal mandates, better Ontario’s environment, and meet the requirements and purposes of the Environmental Bill of Rights.