First European Red List for bees

Assessing the status of the several thousand species of European pollinators is a major task that requires a coordinated large-scale effort involving specialists from across Europe as well as a standardized framework of assessment. The STEP project is using the IUCN Red list procedures to guide the development of a Red Data Book for European bees (and a roadmap for European hoverflies) while at the same time realizing that the knowledge base for this assessment is both taxonomically and geographically incomplete. We are involving taxonomic specialists and national/regional experts in a series of intensive workshops, which will aim at: (i) agreement on standardized assessment criteria relevant for pollinators; (ii) training of experts to improve consistency of the assessment; (iii) identifying leaders for assessment of specific taxonomic groups; (iv) conducting initial broad assessments of the status of European pollinator species; (v) identifying knowledge gaps and ways to overcome them; and (vi)developing a process towards accurate assessment of the status of European pollinators as a basis for policy decisions concerning their conservation.
A Red Data Book for European bees will be published as both an open access e-book and
in print version, and a roadmap for developing a Red Data Book for hoverflies will also be drafted.