Insect pollinators play a crucial role in ecosystems. However, they face a multitude of threats. Climate change, chemical exposure, and habitat loss from increased urbanization and monoculture agriculture have all contributed to the decline of native species.

While public support for insect pollinators has been growing over the last 20 years, initiatives to help them, such as backyard beekeeping, have mainly focused on non-native honeybees. However, honeybees can harm native pollinators through disease transmission and competition for food and nesting habitats.

In the U.S., policymakers have begun to propose and pass statewide legislation to address the many threats facing pollinators. Colorado, for instance, passed a bill establishing a program that generates funding for pollinator conservation projects through the sale of specialized license plates. To ensure the success of programs like these, it’s important to understand the level of public support for pollinator conservation — beyond just honeybees. This would also help decision-makers justify their efforts on behalf of pollinators and prioritize effective policies.

To this end, a team of researchers set out to investigate:

• What knowledge, perspectives, behaviors, and barriers people have when it comes to taking action for pollinators and pollinator conservation;
• Whether public concern for pollinators is influenced by educational messaging; and
• How willing people are to vote, advocate, and pay for different pollinator conservation policies and programs.

The researchers administered an online survey between November 2023 and January 2024, recruiting a sample of 805 Colorado residents representative of the population for age, gender, and household income.

The survey opened by collecting demographic information and assessing respondents’ knowledge of pollinators, including both honeybees and native species. Participants rated the severity of various threats to Colorado pollinators — such as disease spread and habitat loss — and answered questions about their own pollinator-supporting behaviors and the barriers that prevent them from taking action.

Respondents were then randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group. The experimental group read a short passage about insect pollinators, their ecosystem services, and the threats they face, while the control group received no educational messaging. Both groups were asked about their level of concern for native pollinator declines in Colorado and their views on who bears responsibility for addressing them.

The survey concluded by measuring support for nine hypothetical Colorado-specific policies aimed at conserving insect pollinators. Participants indicated their willingness to accept, vote, and advocate for each policy. For two of the policies, they were also asked whether they would be willing to subsidize them.

Knowledge About Pollinators

The researchers found that most respondents didn’t feel very knowledgeable about pollinators apart from honeybees. Almost three-quarters (73%) said they had little to no knowledge about pollinators in general, and over half (58%) said they were not at all or only slightly knowledgeable about the threats they face. In contrast, 59% felt moderately, very, or extremely knowledgeable about honeybees. Yet most participants incorrectly thought that honeybees were native to Colorado (56%) and that keeping honeybees was an effective strategy to support native pollinators (82%). Over one-third (37%) were unsure whether there were any other bee species that pollinated plants besides honeybees.

Respondents were most concerned about pollution and chemicals (68%) threatening Colorado pollinators, followed by climate change (56%) and a lack of habitat (52%). They were least likely to believe that disease spread from honeybees was a threat to other pollinators (42.5%).

Actions To Support Pollinators

Despite a lack of knowledge, most respondents had taken some actions to help pollinators. These included:

• Reducing, eliminating, or avoiding the use of pesticides or other chemicals around the house (56%)
• Planting a native plant (54%)
• Purchasing organic produce and fabrics (27%)
• Removing invasive species (27%)
• Learning more about pollinators (25%)
• Spreading the word about pollinator conservation (17%)
• Engaging in pollinator conservation campaigns (13%)

Barriers To Supporting Pollinators

Respondents had multiple reasons for not acting to support pollinators. The most common were a lack of time (43%) and uncertainty about how to help (42%). For 18%, a fear of insects was holding them back, while 16% didn’t feel they could take action because they didn’t own a home. About 9% said it wasn’t a priority, 8% didn’t think their actions would make a difference, and 5% weren’t interested in helping pollinators.

Support For Pollinator Policies

There was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in their levels of concern for native pollinator declines. The majority of participants thought that government programs focused on agriculture (60%) and wildlife (55%) should be responsible for funding pollinator conservation.

Most respondents supported all nine hypothetical policies. Based on acceptability, removing sales tax from native plants, implementing no-spray zones, and eliminating pesticide use on school grounds were the most popular (84%, 82%, and 80%, respectively). Participants were least in favor of creating honeybee keeper registration/inspection programs (65.5%) and allowing local governments to adopt pesticide policies (58%). In general, respondents were more willing to vote for policies than to advocate for them.

The researchers estimated that Coloradans would be willing to pay an average of $25.08 to subsidize the purchase of native plants to expand pollinator habitat along roadsides, and an average of $41.36 to subsidize a statewide beekeeper registration program.

Native Pollinators Need More Attention

Overall, the results highlight that despite significant gaps in their knowledge of native insect pollinators, most people in Colorado show strong support for pollinator conservation.

The researchers argue that honeybees have a positive “social construction,” meaning that the public tends to view them positively. The study’s findings illustrate this phenomenon: most people are unaware that honeybees are actually an introduced species, and downplay the threat they pose to native insect pollinators. Also, placing restrictions on honeybee-keeping received less support compared to other hypothetical policies, even though it would benefit native pollinators by reducing disease spread and competition.

That being said, the results showed strong overall support for the nine hypothetical policies, as well as relatively high engagement in activities meant to help pollinators more broadly. Thus, the researchers note that there may be a “spillover effect” to other pollinator species from people’s appreciation of honeybees. This suggests that decision-makers could harness honeybees’ positive image to boost support for native pollinators.

Ultimately, both advocates and policymakers can use these findings to demonstrate and build upon the public’s strong interest in pollinator conservation to protect these often-overlooked but vital species.