Asim Ali Shakir
Department of plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
*Corresponding author: asimalishakirpbg@gmail.com
Pollinators play an essential role in both agriculture and natural ecosystems, facilitating the reproduction of over 75% of global food crops and nearly 90% of flowering plant species. Despite their critical importance, pollinator diversity is experiencing alarming declines due to climate change, habitat loss, and the pervasive use of agrochemicals. Currently, approximately 40% of invertebrate pollinators including bees and butterflies are at risk of extinction, posing serious threats to biodiversity, agricultural productivity, and global food security. In response to these converging challenges, this review explores the concept of climate-smart pollinator management, which integrates biodiversity-based farming practices, emerging technologies, and adaptive policy frameworks. Ecologically grounded strategies such as agroforestry, wildflower strips, and diversified cropping systems can restore pollinator habitats and enhance landscape-level resilience. At the same time, technological innovations including remote sensing, IoT-enabled sensor networks, smart hives, computer vision, and edge computing offer powerful tools for real-time monitoring and data-driven management of pollinator populations, while minimizing reliance on harmful agrochemicals. Integrating pollinator conservation into the broader framework of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) strengthens sustainable farming systems by optimizing resource use, reducing pesticide exposure, and enhancing crop resilience under changing climatic conditions. This review synthesizes interdisciplinary insights from ecology, agricultural technology, and policy to identify systemic pathways toward pollinator-friendly and climate-resilient food systems. The paper concludes by highlighting key challenges including persistent data gaps, technological access barriers, and fragmented governance and outlines future directions that emphasize long-term ecological monitoring, advanced modeling tools, cross-sectorial collaboration, digital innovation, and inclusive policy design. Climate-smart pollinator management thus emerges as a scalable and strategic blueprint for ensuring biodiversity conservation, agricultural sustainability, and food system resilience in an era of global change.