A quarter of the bumblebee species found in Europe are at risk of extinction due to habitat loss and climate change. Were bumblebees to become extinct, we could bid farewell to the pollination of crops as well as to an economic value worth billions of euros.

The warning comes from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (Iucn), which on Wednesday 2 April published a press release alerting European Union countries to the threats posed to pollinating insects by intensive farming, pollution and the negative consequences of global warming. Of 68 species analysed, 24 per cent are at risk of extinction. Losing this natural wealth would also mean saying goodbye to 22 billion euros, the economic contribution that bumblebees, bees and other insects "give" to the agricultural sector every year.

Research conducted by the Iucn reveals that 46 per cent of European bumblebee species have recorded a population decline, 29 per cent are stable, while only 13 per cent of species have a growing population.

The European Union has recently imposed a temporary ban on certain pesticides (neonicotinoids) considered responsible for the mass die-off of bumblebees and bees, and is funding research aimed at identifying with greater precision the causes of this decline, so as to be able to draw up a ranking of the priorities to be addressed at Community level. The European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) has called on political and institutional bodies, urging greater and better-coordinated efforts to save pollinating insects and, consequently, the biodiversity of the European continent.

The call has been heeded by European institutions, international organisations and beekeepers' associations, which have been working together for weeks to create biodiversity oases and reserves of pollen and nectar to meet the nutritional needs of bees and keep their immune defences strong.