Pollination crisis: coffee, mango, and mezcal at risk

Pollination

, one of the most important ecosystem services for humanity, is undergoing a crisis .

A lack of this service puts at risk the production of “bean, pepper, tomato, pumpkin, plum, mango , apple, guava, vanilla, coffee , cacao, tequila or mezcal , among other products,” warned César Domínguez Pérez-Tejada, chief executive of Diffusion of Science of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) .

According to a statement released by the UNAM, more than 5 million hectares of farmland in Mexico depend on the biotic pollination , and its value could amount to MXN $63 million .

“Pollination is the result of millions of years of evolution and is related to diversity and its adaptations: at least 300 thousand species of plants with flowers and their extravagant variety of shapes, colors, and fragrances,” Domínguez stressed in the opening of the exposition “Invisible Links, Pollinators and Biodiversity.”

Furthermore, 80% of wild plants and almost 70% of crops for human consumptio n rely on this process for the production of seeds and fruits.

The academic pointed out that bees, insects, and bumblebees are among the most important species of pollinators, although they also include “relatively big vertebrates like marsupials and even small arthropods that pollinate seagrasses,” as reads the newsletter.

Without bees, the world would face a food crisis

mp