Rome, May 13, 2025
Press Release
Agricultural producers, public institutions, and social cooperatives join forces for more sustainable agriculture
Thanks to LIFE BEEadapt, over 70 beehotels have been installed and more than 6,000 plants have been planted in three Italian regions.
Our well-being is directly connected to that of the environment we live in, and when the environment suffers, we suffer too—from extreme events that impact our areas, from the negative socioeconomic consequences they cause, from increasingly high temperatures over prolonged periods that affect our health. Adapting to climate change is therefore not just a matter of analyzing, perceiving, and preventing weather risks: it also involves protecting biodiversity and the related ecosystem services, such as pollination, about which there is still little public awareness. Prevention and adaptation actions are essential to minimize the effects on our health and well-being.
Just over a year after the project’s completion, LIFE BEEadapt – a pact for pollinators adapting to climate change, a project co-financed by the European Union’s LIFE program, has already achieved significant results in the creation of green infrastructure in the various environments involved: 70 beehotels have been installed across five different pilot areas in three Italian regions (Lazio, Marche, and Emilia-Romagna), and more than 6,000 plants have been planted. This widespread presence also helps achieve another goal: the promotion and protection of biodiversity and raising awareness of the importance of pollinators in ecosystems.
The link between agricultural production and pollinators has long been known (it is estimated that 70% of the 115 globally important agricultural crops depend on animal pollination). For this reason, the LIFE BEEadapt project includes, among its key actions, interventions aimed at involving local agricultural workers.
The project’s actions to engage these entities and promote the presence of pollinators in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas include the creation of green infrastructure and governance measures. Two main tools are available to partners to engage public and private entities (farms, social cooperatives, and public administrations): the first is Land Stewardship Agreements, which provide for specific, carefully designed interventions within the signatory farms and private entities (for example, the creation of shrub hedges near cultivated fields); 36 of these have been signed or are being finalized across the three regions involved. The second tool is the Pacts for the Protection of Pollinators from Climate Change, a declaration of intent tailored to local needs with the goal of building a set of tools, best practices, and training opportunities that will be retained by participants even after the project’s conclusion. There were 90 participants (or those in the process of signing) across all three regions, a significant result that demonstrates the urgency felt by the agricultural and social worlds regarding this issue.
The decline of pollinators is not only a threat to biodiversity, but also has major socioeconomic impacts given the close dependence of agricultural production on pollination. Without pollinators, numerous plant species would not reproduce, ultimately impacting the presence of these species in ecosystems and their functioning.
Five areas of wide geomorphological diversity were selected for these demonstration projects: they range from the mountainous environment of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park (Emilia-Romagna), which is also the project’s coordinating body, and the Torricchio Mountain Nature Reserve (Marche), to the Agro Pontino plain (Lazio), and to the urban and peri-urban areas of the Municipality of Aprilia and the RomaNatura protected areas.
Green spaces in cities are increasingly a necessity: in addition to their important role as meeting and recreational spaces, there is also another equally important priority: protecting biodiversity, even in urban areas. Green infrastructure helps preserve and increase ecological connectivity and habitat diversity, encouraging the presence of pollinating insects. The benefits of green infrastructure include more green spaces in and around cities, which help lower temperatures and reduce air pollutants, and the presence of plants and flowers, which improve the environment we live in with scents and shade during the warmer seasons.
“Faced with the climatic, environmental, conservation, economic, and political challenges that protecting biodiversity poses, it is necessary to put a stop to the ongoing degradation of natural ecosystems,” says Stefano Raimondi, Biodiversity Manager at Legambiente, one of the project partners, who has long been at the forefront of pollinator protection with the Save the Queen campaign. “The causes of biodiversity loss must be addressed: adaptation and mitigation actions that arise from nature itself help restore it. Interventions to support pollinators are moving precisely in this direction, and the benefits brought by the actions carried out in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas that the LIFE BEEAdapt project is promoting are an effective response through the improvement of the ecological connectivity they bring.
The results achieved by LIFE BEEadapt are indicative of an increasingly widespread and pressing need not only in the agricultural sector, but also among all institutions: to be able to find strategies for adapting to climate change that protect biodiversity—and in this case, pollinators—and also improve the quality of life and well-being of our communities. These are two important objectives to keep in mind as we celebrate the next two World Bee Days, May 20th and May 22nd.
Press Office
Elisa Leo – 347 406 6702
The LIFE BEEadapt project is co-financed by the European Union through the LIFE financial instrument and involves 10 partners: the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park as coordinator; University of Camerino; Foundation for Sustainable Development; National Research Council – Institute for Bioeconomy; Confagricoltura Latina; Roma Tre University – Department of Architecture; Roma Natura; Legambiente; Municipality of Aprilia
