Beekeeper Henk Brouwer shows his dead bees. Half of the population of his colonies has died after the winter period. Bees and other pollinators – both natural and managed – seem to be declining globally, but particularly in North America and Europe. Lack of robust regional or international programms designed to monitor the current status and trends of pollinators means there is considerable uncertainty in the scale and extent of this decline. Nonetheless, the known losses alone are striking. In recent winters, honeybee colony mortality in Europe has averaged around 20% (with a wide range of 1.8% to 53% between countries).