The future of bees is a serious matter, and the survival of our own species is bound up with theirs. This is well understood in Bavaria, a state in south-eastern Germany, where as many as one million 745,000 citizens — approximately 18 per cent of the population — have signed a petition calling for a referendum to protect these precious pollinating insects.

A vote for biodiversity

The petition, signed over the past two weeks at Bavarian municipal offices, has thus met with extraordinary success, far exceeding the one million signatures — equal to 10 per cent of the electorate — legally required to trigger a referendum, which must be organised within six months. The campaign to promote the "save the bees" referendum was backed by the Greens, the Bavarian Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) and several conservation organisations. "It is time to change course and embark on a new path for effective nature conservation in Bavaria," commented Ludwig Hartmann, one of the Green leaders in Bavaria.

Discover Bee my Future, the project for the protection of bees

An agricultural and social revolution

The referendum proposal requires that 20 per cent of agricultural land meet organic standards by 2025, rising to 30 per cent by 2030. The pesticides used in conventional agriculture, and the resulting loss of agricultural biodiversity, are indeed the primary cause of the decline of bees and many other animals. Ten per cent of Bavaria's green spaces would also need to be converted into wildflower meadows, in order to provide a suitable habitat for bees. The referendum proposal also calls for improved protection measures for watercourses to prevent them from being contaminated by pesticides and fertilisers, and, finally, for greater environmental education in school curricula.

On the side of the bees

To promote the importance of holding the referendum, in recent days thousands of people took to the streets of Bavaria dressed as bees. The colourful, light-hearted demonstration helped to build popular support for the campaign, succeeding in conveying the urgency of protecting the habitats of insects and birds, whose populations in Germany have collapsed in recent years. According to recent studies, the number of flying insects in Germany has fallen by nearly 80 per cent over the past thirty years. This catastrophic trend now affects many areas of the planet, to the extent that, according to estimates, around 40 per cent of insect species is facing drastic rates of decline and could disappear within just one century.

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Farmers push back

Bavarian farmers, however, are opposed to this environmentalist shift, fearing economic repercussions for their livelihoods. The regional farmers' association has called on the public to "stop attacking farmers," playing on the financial pressures they face. There is no question that the referendum, should it succeed, could have enormous consequences for the German agricultural industry, but the benefits it would bring are plain to see.

Bavaria's green wave

While in Italy environmental issues continue to be sidelined from the political agenda and people who care about these matters — and there are plenty of them — continue to feel inadequately represented, Bavaria is showing us that an environmentalist politics is possible. The turning point came at last October's elections, when the Green party doubled its result compared to the 2013 elections, winning nearly 18 per cent of the vote and becoming the second most voted-for party in Bavaria. The Greens' programme included, among other points, the promotion of organic farming as a strategy for conserving natural resources and protecting biodiversity.