- Nigeria has become the fourth African country to join the Global Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators.Ethiopia was the first African nation to be part of this global coalition in 2017.
- This Coalition was formed to follow up on the findings of IPBES assessment on Pollinators and Food Production.The coalition aims to foster policy measures and innovative action on protecting pollinators.
- The initiative to form a coalition was taken by the Netherlands in 2016 at the Conference of the Parties-Convention on Biological Diversity held in Mexico.
- The coalition now has 28 signatories including 17 European countries,5 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 4 from Africa.
- Pollination is one of the most important mechanisms in the maintenance and promotion of biodiversity.
- Pollinator-dependent species include several fruits,vegetables,oil crops which are major sources of nutrients to humans.The availability of pollinators helps in crop production in terms of both quantity and quality.
- The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services(IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body.
- The objective is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.Currently,it has over 130 member States.
