Science Summit at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78)

NOTE: This session will be conducted in Spanish

TITLE: Challenges and proposals for pollinators conservation in Latin America

Introduction and aims
The abundance and diversity of pollinating animals is critical to ecosystem functioning, crop productivity, farm income and access to nutritious food. There are global concerns over pollinator declines, which have resulted in national and international policy demands for information on pollinator status and trends to develop appropriate conservation and management strategies. Latin America includes unique and impressive tropical, subtropical and temperate biomes with high landscape heterogeneity, supporting great natural and cultural diversity. At the same time, the region shows high deforestation rates, which jeopardize its biodiversity and ecological balance. In its unique natural, cultural and socioeconomical context, Latin America faces challenges that must be confronted with innovative ideas and initiatives. This session is about identifying the critical points of pollinator conservation in Latin America, as well as sharing positive experiences towards a regional search for solutions.

Abstract
The pollination crisis and its impact in ecosystem services provision have been a priority in research agenda for some decades. Despite a substantial increase in scientific, public and political interest in pollinator health and many practical conservation efforts, incorporating initiatives across a range of scales and sectors, pollinator health continues to decline. Thus, the situation calls for a sensible review of the actions taken so far, in order to understand what is known and what is still ignored, what can lead to success and what has proven unworthy of limited resources allocation.
In that spirit, Jane C. Stout and Lynn V. Dicks reviewed existing pollinator conservation initiatives and defined their common structural elements ("From science to society: implementing effective strategies to improve wild pollinator health", Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 2022). In this paper, they considered the hierarchical structure and content of existing global efforts to reverse pollinator declines; defined and reviewed the knowledge domains they consider critical to designing effective pollinator conservation actions; and used the IPBES conceptual framework to discuss how pollinator conservation might broaden its scope to enable it to drive the transformative change that many others have argued will be necessary to reverse biodiversity loss. Finally, they consider how each of the areas of action frequently included in pollinator initiatives could be enhanced or improved, based on the critical knowledge domains and gaps identified, namely: research, regulatory issues, monitoring, public engagement and land management.
The approach of this session was to take this thorough analysis and frame it in the Latin American context. This region shows one of the highest plant species richness, which in turn allows the assumption of high richness of vertebrate and invertebrate pollinator richness. Latin America is also a great global producer of commodities (such as soybean, maize or coffee). Consequently, since developing nations usually rely on extractive land uses, vast areas of natural vegetation are being converted into agricultural farmlands at a worrying speed.
Fortunately, Latin American issues have Latin American men and women devoted to ameliorate these concerns with great ideas and hard work. Through careful research in publications and media, an assorted group of experts in the pollination topic was sought and invited to share their opinions and experiences, taking into account the scope of areas of action for pollinators' conservation initiatives. They will update status and trends of this crisis in the subcontinent; share useful, traditional knowledge; describe running projects and programmes in different countries deserving to be reproduced; and propose solutions that inspire stakeholders to take the necessary steps to a brighter future.

Expected outcomes
This session has the privilege of an ensemble of experts living and working in Latin America, willing to share their thoughts and experience in every area of action of pollinators' conservation initiatives. From the interaction among them and with attendees, who surely are as worried and committed as the speakers about pollination crisis, we expect:
- to have an updated information about pollinators' status and trends;
- to expand the knowledge about pollinators management and restoration;
- to reclaim traditional practices and worldviews about our relationship with Nature;
- to learn from our achievements and mistakes;
- to inspire conservation practitioners to replicate or generate innovative proposals;
- to promote initiatives adapted to the regional context, with realistic chances of success;
- to agree on an agenda of conjoined efforts of conservation for the years to come.