By Greenpeace International
The problem of bee decline
Since the late 1990s, beekeepers around the world have observed the mysterious and sudden disappearance of bees and report unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies.
Bees make more than honey – they are key to food production because they pollinate crops. Bumblebees, other wild bees, and insects like butterflies, wasps, and flies all provide valuable pollination services. A third of the food that we eat depends on pollinating insects: vegetables like zucchini, fruits like apricot, nuts like almonds, spices like coriander, edible oils like canola, and many more…
In Europe alone, the growth of over 4,000 vegetables depends on the essential work of pollinators. But currently, more and more bees are dying. The bee decline affects mankind too. Our lives depend on theirs.
40%
Loss of commercial honeybee
in the US since 2006
25%
Loss of commercial honeybee
in Europe since 1985
45%
Loss of commercial honeybee
in the UK since 2010
The role of the bee
Bees and other pollinating insects play an essential role in ecosystems. A third of all our food depends on their pollination. A world without pollinators would be devastating for food production.
Who would pollinate all the crops? Hand-pollination is extremely labour-intensive, slow and expensive. The economic value of bees’ pollination work has been estimated around € 265 billion annually, worldwide. So, also from a purely economic point of view, it pays to protect the bees.
Bee-killing pesticides
Bee-killing pesticides in particular pose the most direct risk to pollinators. The main reasons for global bee-decline are linked to industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens and climate change. The loss of biodiversity due to monocultures and the wide-spread use of bee-killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators.
Although the relative role of insecticides in the global decline of pollinators remains poorly characterised, it is becoming increasingly evident that some insecticides, at concentrations applied routinely in the current chemical-intensive agriculture system, exert clear, negative effects on the health of pollinators – both individually and at the colony level. The observed, sub-lethal, low-dose effects of insecticides on bees are various and diverse.
Avoid pesticides to save pollinators
Some pesticides pose direct risk to pollinators. The elimination of bee-harming chemicals from agriculture is a crucial and most-effective first step to protect the health of bee populations. As their name indicates, these are chemical designed to kill insects and they are widely applied in the environment, mostly around cropland areas.
The main reasons for global bees-decline are industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens and climate change. The loss of biodiversity, destruction of habitat and lack of forage due to monocultures and bee-killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators. It is becoming increasingly evident that some insecticides, at concentrations applied routinely in the current chemical-intensive agriculture system, exert clear, negative effects on the health of pollinators – both individually and at the colony level. The observed, sub-lethal, low-dose effects of insecticides on bees are various and diverse.
What can we do?
To protect our bees and agriculture we need to shift from destructive industrial agriculture towards ecological farming. First and important steps are:
- Ban all bee-harming pesticides
- Adopt a bee-action plan
- Promote ecological farming
Any progress in transforming the current destructive chemical-intensive agricultural system into an ecological farming system will have many associated benefits on other dimensions of the environment and on human food security.
Support the change towards ecological farming and help to protect bees, wild bees and other pollinators: buy regional and organic food, avoid pesticides in your garden, plant bee-friendly organic flowers and get active by signing the petition to save the bees and agriculture.
Ecological farming is the only solution for the global pollinators- and agriculture crisis.
Greenpeace International