Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

            The purpose of the report is for members to consider a request to become a formal partner of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. 

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to

·        Agree that Belfast City Council becomes a formal partner of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. 

2.2       Members are advised that in becoming a partner, Council agrees:

·        To support the ethos of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and consider the Plan in policies, plans, and management decisions where possible.

·        To carry out one pollinator-friendly action in the first year of signing up and plan to carry out at least three more within the following five years. The guideline document lists 30 possible actions, many of which are low cost or cost neutral.

·        To update the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Team on the positive pollinator actions planned, implemented or maintained at the end of each year.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       Insect pollination is essential to food production. ‘One out of every 3 mouthfuls’ is pollinated by insects.  Wild bees pollinate between 85-95% of the UK’s insect pollinated crops, while honeybees pollinate between 5-15%. This free service is estimated to be worth £1.8 billion each year.

3.2       More than half of our bee species have suffered declines over the past 50 years with over 250 UK pollinators in danger of extinction. Habitat loss is a major driver of pollinator declines and in Northern Ireland we have lost as much as 97% of our wildflower meadows in the last half century.

3.3       Members are reminded that in 2015 Belfast City Council endorsed and supported the first All-Ireland Pollinator Plan which aimed to take steps to reverse pollinator losses and help restore populations to healthy levels. 

3.4       Building on the success of the first Plan, the new Plan 2021 - 2025 has 6 objectives:

·        Making farmland pollinator friendly - By working together with the farming community, we want to achieve an increased awareness of pollinators and the resources they need in order to survive on farmland.

·        Making public land pollinator friendly - By working together with Councils, Transport Authorities, Local Communities and others, we want to better coexist with biodiversity and help return food and shelter for pollinators to our island.

·        Making private land pollinator friendly - From gardens, to businesses, faith communities and sports clubs, we want to work together to create networks of biodiversity-friendly habitat across our landscape.

·        All-Ireland Honeybee Strategy - By supporting beekeepers, we want to achieve healthy, sustainable populations, and for honeybees to be part of a cohesive pollinator message that balances managed and wild pollinator populations.

·        Conserving rare pollinators - By improving our knowledge on rare pollinators, and by raising awareness through dedicated initiatives, we want to achieve a Plan that protects as much wild pollinator diversity as possible.

·        Strategic coordination of the Plan - By continually raising awareness; addressing gaps in our knowledge through research; and by tracking where pollinators occur and how populations are changing, we want to work from an evidence base that enables us to coordinate a dynamic plan that is targeted and effective.

3.5       Belfast City Council has received a request to become a formal partner of the new All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025.  In becoming a partner, Council agrees:

1.      To support the ethos of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and consider the Plan in policies, plans, and management decisions where possible.

2.      To carry out one pollinator-friendly action in the first year of signing up and plan to carry out at least three more within the following five years. The guideline document lists 30 possible actions, many of which are low cost or cost neutral.

3.      To update the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Team on the positive pollinator actions planned, implemented or maintained at the end of each year.

3.6       The Council is already contributing to the objectives of the Plan through our existing land management such as our meadow management and projects such as the successful   Bee-licious Pollinator project. 

3.7       Members are reminded that at February Council, BCC agreed to support the Belfast’s Buzzing Pollinator Project with BugLife, which aims to promote insect pollinators in parks and open spaces as well as inform, inspire and engage local communities in the recovery of nature within their local area.

3.8       Council has agreed £5,000 funding for project work to occur on BCC land and that Council will manage these project sites for the next ten years, maintaining their biodiversity value.

3.9       The Belfast’s Buzzing project will form the focus of the Council’s commitment to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan over the next 2 years and to be able to link these actions as a formal partner of the Plan would strengthen existing and future funding applications.

            Financial and Resource Implications

3.10      It is not anticipated that these actions will incur any additional costs and will be met through existing work programmes.

            Equality or Good Relations Implications/

            Rural Needs Assessment

3.11      There are no known implications with this report.”

            During discussion a Member sought an update on the status of a previous Notice of Motion in regard to rewilding, he continued that he would be keen to see the Council adopting a more joined up approach in regard to progressing environmental issues.   

            The Director of Neighbourhood Services advised that an update regarding the outstanding Notice of Motions was scheduled to be submitted to the June meeting of Committee.

            Following a query regarding the Council’s use of glyphosate-based weed killers and the introduction of alternative weed control measures, the Director of Neighbourhood Services undertook to submit an update report to a future meeting.

            The Committee adopted the recommendations as outlined at 2.0 of the report.