What are the perils faced by wasps and bees in the semi-arid to arid areas of southern Africa? How do these perils impact wasps and bees? Why? Why should we be asking these questions? In the past 20 years there has been mounting awareness that, with the increasing pressure on the land by people, pollinators worldwide are in decline and that this decline is likely to have an impact on food production and conservation of biodiversity. For many years, it has been known that most plants require pollen vectors to achieve pollination, and that insects from several orders are commonly involved. These include Hymenoptera (most notably bees and wasps), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (flies) and Coleoptera (beetles). However, the requirements for their survival are diverse and to a large degree poorly understood. Furthermore, there is increasing awareness and discussion of the imbalances caused by the loss of predatory birds and mammals but, undoubtedly because of their small size, insect predators, which are of no less importance, do not attract as much attention. With this awakening awareness John LaSalle and Ian Gauld organised a symposium on Hymenoptera and biodiversity for the 1990 congress of the International Society of Hymenopterists. The presentations were gathered together in a single volume (LaSalle and Gauld 1993) published by the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International. It was for this symposium that we presented the first evaluation of the effects of increasing land utilisation on species representation and diversity of wasps and bees in the semi-arid areas of southern Africa. The International Pollinator Initiative (IPI) was instituted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1996 in order to generate understanding, promote conservation and build the requirements of pollinators into land management. Regional initiatives followed. One such, the African Pollinator Initiative (API), came into being in 1999. Much has been said to popularise the cause. It is said that we can thank a pollinator for one out of every three bites of food. Although many staple foods are cereals (wind-pollinated grasses), most other food plants eaten by humans and stock require animal pollination. Thus, we depend on diverse pollinators not only for the fruit and vegetables we eat, but also in considerable measure for meat. In this regard, two invited articles on the Karoo, its insect pollinators and the perils they face were prepared (Gess 2001, 2002). In order to maintain essential populations of plants and animals, it is necessary to have an understanding of their requirements. With the institution of the Conservation Farming Project in South Africa by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) (Donaldson 2002) the scarcity of this understanding.