The European Commission has adopted an EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme to help Member States reverse the decline of pollinator populations by 2030.

This objective is a key target under the EU Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR), a shared European commitment to safeguarding biodiversity, ensuring food security, and enhancing nature’s resilience.  

As with other targets in the NRR, the Commission is working in close partnership with Member States, providing the necessary tools, scientific foundation and networks, while allowing flexibility to tailor implementation to local needs and realities. 

A common scientific framework for all Member States  

With over 80% of natural habitats currently in poor condition, the NRR aims to urgently restore Europe’s degraded nature and thereby safeguard the many ecosystem services—including pollination—on which our economy, health and quality of life depend.  

A cornerstone of effective nature restoration is the availability of reliable, rapid, and comparable monitoring to assess the current status and the impact of the measures taken.

To ensure that every Member State can monitor pollinator populations efficiently and effectively, the Commission is providing a standardised, science-based method for monitoring pollinator diversity and abundance.  

The common framework guarantees that the annual data collected across all national territories is comparable and reliable, providing a clear picture of progress toward the 2030 target.

It also reduces administrative burden at a national level, allowing national authorities to focus on implementation and restoration actions.It grounds collective efforts in robust, verifiable evidence.

Background

The decline of pollinators is not only an environmental concern but a societal challenge.

80% of our food crops and wild flowering plants depend on pollination, but one in three bee, butterfly and hoverfly species is in decline, and one in ten bee and butterfly species are threatened with extinction.  

Through the ‘EU Pollinator Initiative: A new deal for pollinators’, the Commission acts on several fronts beyond the methodology: 

• By supporting Member States through an extensive European knowledge network
• By investing in research and innovation to make the monitoring of wildlife and habitats more automated and cost-efficient
• By actively promoting citizen engagement and youth involvement to turn awareness into action

More information

EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme delegated regulation | EUR-Lex

Pollinators webpage | European Commission