An open letter to Michael Gove MP

Dear Mr Gove,

Two worrying reports about insects have come to my attention in the past couple of weeks – the first a widely reported study from Germany that has seen a 75 per cent drop in insect numbers over the past 25 years; the second a report about the steady decline in honey crop from the British Beekeepers Association.

In a survey of members of the British Beekeepers Association, 62 per cent said that they believed neonicotinoids are to blame, a belief which seems to be supported by the fact that suburban beekeepers (away from agricultural land) are returning better yields that rural beekeepers.

The first of these reports is frankly terrifying to me – a 40 year-old with two young children. I had hoped that my children might get to see as much of the beauty of the natural world as I have managed to do in my life. Now I spend more time worrying about whether they will live for as long as me, as mass extinctions of wild animals gain in speed. I think that it is our generation’s responsibility to reverse this trend. I know that you have expressed the commitment to try and leave the environment in a better state at the end of your term than at the beginning. I am dubious of your ability to do this, not least because the juggernaut of environmental destruction seems to have a scary amount of momentum that is going to be difficult to stop.

But, hey, one thing at a time – and this letter is all about insects.

It has been said many times, but it seems to need saying again: bees and other pollinating insects are vital for agriculture and a healthy ecosystem. I believe that the government has a responsibility to do their best to protect bees and it seems that a ban on neonicotinoids seems like a sensible starting point.

Do you support this move and, if you do not, how can you defend keeping neonicotinoids?

Let’s not wait until it’s too late to take decisive action – I think you can do something to make the world a slightly better place right now. Please use that power well.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Telfer