£10 million bee initiative launched at Roots and Shoots
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn chose the wildlife garden at education and environmental charity Roots and Shoots as the setting for a major announcement of a £10 million initiative to tackle bee and pollinator decline.
The Secretary of State met Linda Phillips, David Perkins and Clive Watson and was shown the hives in the wildlife garden while being filmed for the BBC News Channel, see left.Hilary Benn said:
“Aristotle identified bees as the most hard working of insects, and with one in three mouthfuls coming from insect-pollinated crops, we need to support bees and other pollinators.
“I announced in January that Defra would put an extra £2m into research funding, and I am delighted our partners have agreed to boost this to up to £10m.
“This funding will give some of Britain’s world-class researchers the chance to identify the causes of the decline we’re seeing in bee numbers, and that will help us to take the right action to help.”