The beelibre project is an ongoing initiative proposed by the Fondation faune-flore (FFF) and the National Museum of Natural History of Luxembourg (MNHNL). It is supported by the Government of Luxembourg through the funding line “Pollinisateurs” of the Ministre de l’Environnement, du Climat et de la Biodiversité.

Beelibre started its activities in 2023 with the goal of developing an open-access, user-friendly online database of local wild bee content. Wild bees are fundamental insect pollinators for flowering plants. Therefore, developing effective conservation strategies targeting regional wild bee biodiversity has become a matter of utmost concern in many European countries aiming for sustainable development. Some wild bees can thrive in diverse environments, but others have specific habitat requirements. Thus, the success of conservation strategies relies heavily on our understanding of the taxonomy and ecology of local species. Properly curated reference material is vital for both morphological and molecular taxonomic tools to provide accurate biodiversity assessments. Historically, reference data of all kinds for the wild bee fauna of Luxembourg has been scattered across multiple, disconnected sources.

This situation represents an obstacle to our capacity to propose evidence-based, fit-for-purpose conservation strategies. In the context of the European Commission’s “New Deal for pollinators”(adopted on the 23rd of November 2023) and the Nature Restoration Law (adopted on the 17th of June 2024), the ‘beelibre’ project aims to develop an open-access, user-friendly online platform for national wild bee data. This project attempts to build a “one-stop-shop” website, gathering relevant content concerning local wild bee identification, DNA barcodes, nationally relevant publications and descriptions of plant-pollinator interactions found in the region. Moreover, ‘beelibre’ aims to act as an instance of mediation between researchers, stakeholders, conservationists and the general public in Luxembourg, sharing scientific knowledge with a broader audience across the Science-Policy-Practice interface.