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What’s all the Buzz About? Celebrating National Pollinator Week with Nature Blocks 🐝

There’s a buzz in the air this spring and it’s the sound of native Australian pollinators. Pollinators are a myriad of animal species like bees, butterflies, and birds that are critical for food security, ecosystem function and well-being – contributing billions each year to our economy!

Australia is gearing up to celebrate National Pollinator Week in November by acknowledging and raising awareness of the significant role that our unique pollinators play. Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) is joining this celebration by creating a big buzz about native pollinators and how Nature Blocks™ can help to support them.

CVA is encouraging everyone to celebrate National Pollinator Week by taking action for pollinators like bees, birds, and butterflies – through the planting of native pollinator gardens.  As part of our Nature Blocks™ initiative, planting pollinator gardens is a fun and easy activity that anyone can take part in at home.

We launched our Nature Blocks initiative in 2023, which is proudly supported by the Bupa Foundation, to enhance biodiversity in backyards across Australia while delivering many health and wellness benefits.

To date, close to 1000 Nature Blocks have been established across Australia and over 83,743 people have been engaged with Nature Blocks. The more that Australians get involved in planting Nature Blocks, the greater their potential to transform our cities into havens for biodiversity.

Below we provide more information about Australian pollinators, why they’re so important, and how to create your own pollinator garden Nature Block.

What are pollinators and why are they important? 🦋🐞🐦

Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles, birds, and bats comprise many species of animals that fly about and land on plants and flowers and help to transfer pollen between plants. This activity helps plants to reproduce and develop seeds and fruits, which not only provides us with much of the food we consume but also helps support biodiversity.

Did you know that some pollinators are adapted specifically to one plant (or group of plants), which means that planting those native species in your Nature Block can help support those pollinators survive.

Why are pollinators so important?

Pollinators are often tiny creatures that are often overlooked and underestimated for the important role they play. Here are some of the most important roles that pollinators play in our lives:

• Pollinators support agriculture and food security: Most flowering plants rely on pollination. Over 180,000 plant species and 1200 crops require pollination, which means that the majority of the food we eat comes from plants that were pollinated [PDF]. The Wheen Bee Foundation in Australia estimates that two thirds of Australia’s agricultural production benefits from bee pollination. Pollinators therefore support much of Australia’s agriculture and help provide a lot of the food we eat.
• Pollinators support biodiversity and ecosystem services: Pollinators help support biodiversity by enabling the genetic transfer of materials in the pollination process and help plants to reproduce. This helps ensure survival and growth of plant species, which in turn supports a myriad of animals that depend on those plants for survival. Pollinators support healthy and functioning ecosystems – and we rely heavily on these ecosystem services like clean air, stable soils, and protection from severe storms for our wellbeing and survival.
• Pollinators power our economy: Globally, one estimate of the value of pollinators to the economy is $217 billion. In Australia, honeybees alone are estimated to contribute over $14 billion to agriculture each year through their pollination services. It’s clear that pollinators contribute significantly to local and global economies.

How many pollinators are there in Australia?

It’s estimated that there are over 2000 bee species in Australia, which together with many thousands of insects like butterflies, wasps, beetles and others – help to pollinate plants.

Each year the Australian Pollinator Count aims to monitor pollinator populations, with volunteers helping to record insect sightings across the country. Find out more about getting involved in the annual Australian Pollinator Count, which takes place in November.

Why are pollinators in decline? And what does that mean for Australians?

Populations of pollinators are in rapid decline, which is quite worrying for many reasons. Their declining numbers are due to a combination of habitat loss and fragmentation, pollution (for example, from pesticides), diseases, invasive species, and climate change.

Given the importance of pollinators (as outlined above), their decline could be devastating. A loss of pollinators could trigger the collapse of our agricultural economies and food supply, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and a huge decline in local economic output.

Planting Nature Blocks for pollinators

Pollinators are under threat and need our help. In cities, you can help protect and support pollinators by planting Nature Blocks in your garden. Nature Blocks that are filled with native plant species in gardens dotted across Australia can provide a series of urban corridors that help pollinators move around and find food, shelter and places to nest.

Pollinator gardens: creating a buzz of biodiversity in cities

A pollinator garden is one type of Nature Block that you can plant. Pollinator gardens are designed to provide food, shelter, and nesting space for pollinators like insects and birds.

By downloading the CVA App, you can find a wealth of information on how to get started creating a pollinator garden of your very own as a type of Nature Block. That includes which native plant species to select, where to plant them and how to care for them.

How to create a pollinator garden

You can create a pollinator garden with a single flower, although ideally your pollinator garden should have at least 4 different native plant species and a simple habitat element.

Here are a few examples of native plants to grow in your pollinator garden:

• Spreading flax-lily (Dianella admixta)
• Billy Buttons (Pycnosorus chrysanthes)
• Creeping Boobialla (Myoporum parvifolium)
• Native Fuschia (Correa reflexa)

Download the CVA App and get tips and resources to create and care for your pollinator garden, including an Australian-wide plant guide which offers more inspiration on plants to grow.

Planting tips: Choose flowers with varying bloom times so that you can provide food for pollinators year around, while enjoying a burst of colour during every season. Group plants together instead of scattering them around the garden to attract more pollinators, and ensure your plants get the right amount of direct sunlight.

CVA’s Nature Blocks: Supporting Nature in Cities

We hope you will join us in celebrating National Pollinator Week in Australia. There are many reasons to protect and support pollinators in Australia, and many opportunities to do so right from your own home.

You can create a pollinator garden, take part in the annual Australian Pollinator Count, and you can do your bit for citizen science by recording sightings of pollinators all year around using iNaturalist.