MCAST hosts an International Meeting on Sustainable Pollination in Europe as part of COST Action
Between the 4 and 6 November 2015 the MCAST Institute of Applied Sciences hosted the COST Action FA1307:Sustainable pollination in Europe – joint research on bees and other pollinators (SUPER-B) Conference, workshops and management committee meetings. This Conference was attended by experts from the thirty participating countries.
SUPER-B brings together scientific and societal communities involved in the conservation and sustainable management of ecosystem services mediated by pollinators. Pollination contributes directly to human well-being, with more than seventy of our crops needing insects for optimal pollination. The direct economic value of crop pollination by insects in the EU is more than 14 billion euro annually. Many other wild plant species benefit from animal pollinators, making pollination a key service for ecosystem and biodiversity maintenance. SUPER-B combines scientific evidence and social feedback for developing conservation strategies for pollinators. Its results are relevant to all European countries and will be disseminated to a wide community of beneficiaries.
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level. It is the networking mechanism by which researchers can gain excellent networking exposure with colleagues working in the same areas across Europe. In Malta, COST is managed by The Malta Council for Science and Technology.
The activities were coordinated by Dr. Mario V. Balzan from the MCAST, Institute of Applied Sciences who also represents Malta within the Management Committee of this Action. The meeting participants were also briefly addressed by Prof. Janet Mifsud, the COST Coordinator in Malta, on behalf of the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
This article was last updated on: April 5, 2017