Everywhere in Europe, there are civil movements aimed at a different form of agriculture. The Save the Bees and Farmers Alliance wants to make peasant agriculture more environmentally friendly.
Several environmental organizations and foundations on Wednesday in Brussels launched the European Citizens Initiative Save the Bees and Farmers.
The Alliance for the Conservation of Species Diversity and Agriculture seeks to stop using hazardous pesticides and help farmers switch to a healthier and more environmentally friendly mode of production, the press release said.
The EU commission now has two months to consider citizens' initiative. Once it confirms registration, the Alliance wants to collect one million signatures in Europe in one year.
Environmentalists believe that without deep changes in agricultural production, the collapse of ecosystems cannot be stopped. “A quarter of European wild animals are threatened with extinction, and the stock of wild birds has halved in recent decades.
Many breeds of bees and other pollinating insects are endangered. In addition, about 4 million small farms had to be closed between 2005 and 2016, ”the Alliance said.
The project involves the Aurelia Foundation, Friends of the Earth Europe, the Munich Environmental Institute, the European Pesticide Action Network (PAN), GLOBAL 2000 and organic farmers such as Annemarie Gluderer from South Tyrol.
