Cornwall’s Pollinator Action Plan 2019-2024
In response to alarming losses in insect numbers, Cornwall Council launched its Pollinator Action Plan in May 2019. The Plan came about as a recommendation by Full Council following the ‘Bees, Pollinators and Human Health’ motion in 2016.
It was informed by the 2017 Pollinator Action Plan workshop, informal cross-Council consultation and with input from external partners.
Cornwall’s Pollinator Action Plan is a two part document.
The first part sets out the evidence and need for action. The second part (the appendix) is an operational plan.
It focuses on actions that can be taken by Cornwall Council across our assets, functions and responsibilities.
These actions will help to reverse the decline in bees, butterflies and other insects. It will do this by providing food and places of refuge for pollinators.
Please join us by helping to make Cornwall a better place for pollinators – here’s how:
- Let native plants thrive in your garden. Flowering ‘weeds’ are nature’s own supply of colour, refuge and food
- Plant pollinator friendly plants to boost food
- Avoid garden pesticides including aphid spray, slug pellets and weedkillers. You can also buy organic fruit and veg
- Leave areas of your garden undisturbed and naturally messy. Make space for log piles, compost heaps and rough, grassy areas
- Reduce the frequency of lawn mowing. Let daisies, buttercups and clover come through and flower especially in early spring
- Help thirsty pollinators. A bird bath or sunken bin lid are ideal watering holes for parched bees and bugs
The Pollinator Action Plan is a key document in helping to deliver Cornwall’s Environmental Growth Strategy
Giving Cornwall’s butterflies and bees a helping hand
One in every three mouthfuls of the food we eat depends on the pollination of crops by bees, butterflies, hoverflies and others insects.
But these important pollinators are under threat from
- habitat loss
- agricultural practices
- pesticides
- and climate change
This has led to devastating losses of wildlife, both here in Cornwall and beyond.
While it’s sad not to see so many butterflies and bees buzzing about, these losses have a wider implication.
Pollinators play an essential role in Cornwall’s ecology, and Cornwall’s ecology plays an essential role in the health of our communities, our work force and our economy.
Our treasured landscapes have already lost some of their life and colour, agriculture and tourism has already been affected. Cornwall’s Pollinator Action Plan is starting to turn these losses around.
There are several projects already well under way that are reversing this aspect of environmental decline. They are just the start of Cornwall’s ‘save our pollinators’ plan:
