Save Bees and Farmers reaches more than 1 Million signatures

More than 1 Million citizens calling for an end to pesticides

We did it! 1,161,257 citizens have signed the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘Save bees and farmers’, calling on the European institutions to fully phase-out synthetic pesticides by 2035 and support farmers to make the transition to a environmentally-friendly farming practices.

Thanks to the mobilization of a cross-sector alliance of civil society organisations covering the environment, health, farming and beekeeping, among whom the European networks Friends of the Earth Europe and the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) as well as the Munich Environmental Institute, the Aurelia foundation (Germany), Générations Futures (France) and GLOBAL 2000/Friends of the Earth Austria, the European Commission and Parliament must now consider turning the campaign’s demands into law¹.

What are the key demands

The ECI calls on the European Commission to introduce legal proposals to:

• Phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035: Phase out synthetic pesticides in EU agriculture by 80% by 2030, starting with the most hazardous, to become 100% free of synthetic pesticides by 2035
• Restore biodiversity: Restore natural ecosystems in agricultural areas so that farming becomes a vector of biodiversity recovery
• Support farmers in the transition: Reform agriculture by prioritising small scale, diverse and sustainable farming, supporting a rapid increase in agroecological and organic practice, and enabling independent farmer-based training and research into pesticide- and GMO-free farming

¹ Provided that minimum 1 million signatures from at least seven EU countries are validated by national authorities.