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The Forgotten Pollinators Campaign
Organized by Stephen Buchmann and Gary Nabhan, the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign is an effort to bring attention to the critical role pollination plays in food production, and in maintaining viable ecosystems around the globe. This international campaign is based in Tucson at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and aims to inform scientists, conservationists, farmers, and the public about the animals that pollinate wild flowering plants and economically important crops. Using a book entitled The Forgotten Pollinators, museum exhibits, and an informative website, they also call attention to the many threats faced by all types of managed and wild pollinators, including habitat fragmentation and pesticide use.
Recently, the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign has focused its attention on the plight of migratory pollinators. At a conference in May 1999 entitled "Migratory Pollinators and their Corridors: Conservation across Borders", a five year research, education, and conservation project was initiated. The project seeks to focus research on four pollinator species whose migratory patterns take them across the United States-Mexico border: monarch butterflies, lesser long-nosed bats, rufous hummingbirds, and white-winged doves (Withgott 1999). In addition to learning more about each of these pollinators and identifying their respective migratory corridors, Forgotten Pollinators' organizers hope to raise public awareness about the issue, instill cooperation between Mexican and US organizations, and stimulate the development of conservation programs.
