Almost a quarter of Europe's bumblebees are at risk of extinction due to loss of habitats and climate change, threatening pollination of crops worth billions of dollars, a study showed on Wednesday.
Sixteen of 68 bumblebee species in Europe are at risk, the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said. It is preparing a global study of the bees, whose honeybee cousins are in steep decline because of disease.
"Of the five most important insect pollinators of European crops, three are bumblebee species," said the IUCN, which groups governments, scientists and conservation groups.
"Together with other pollinators, bumblebees contribute more than 22 billion euros ($30.35 billion) to European agriculture a year," it said in a statement.
Of Europe's bumblebee species, populations of almost half are falling and just 13 percent are increasing, it said.
An enormous marine heatwave off the US west coast is ringing alarm bells among ocean and...
Authorities in Orange county, California have ordered the evacuation of 40,000 people over concerns about a...
More than 17,000 people were under evacuation orders in southern California on Tuesday as a wildfire...
