London – Manchester, one of the UK’s biggest northern cities, bees can be seen everywhere. Not just in real life, in parks and gardens.
Adopted as the city’s emblem more than a century ago, the humble worker bee which is the smallest of all honey bees and is always female is seen by many Mancunians as representative of their key values.
The city of Manchester isn’t alone. But fast forward to 2022, and people globally have a special relationship with bees as they need to survive.
New Zealand is losing bee colonies by the thousands and beekeepers warn bees may soon become endangered without human intervention.
The latest figures released by the Ministry for Primary Industries show New Zealand has lost over 90,000 bee colonies over the last two winter seasons.
Varroa mite infestation and toxic exposures are among the list as suspected causes. Middle South Island bees are suffering New Zealand’s highest rate of colony loss.
Bees are responsible for pollinating the food supply. In fact, one in every three bites of food we take can be attributed to bees. They offer invaluable support to ecosystems, helping plants and trees grow. In Europe, bees pollinate around 80 percent of wildflowers.
But bees are in decline. And, despite how much we have always revered them, most of that is humanity’s fault, such as rural use of pesticides.
In 2012, first-of-its-kind research found pesticides were causing a serious decline of honey bees around the world. It’s not surprising: many of the chemicals are designed to kill insects including bees.
Ten years on, pesticides are still presenting a huge problem for bees. Earlier this month, a University of Oxford study found they impact bee nervous systems.
While people love honey, the global market is worth more than $8 billion, bees need to produce it for themselves: it provides them with a valuable source of nutrition throughout the winter.
But there is a way to have honey without taking it from the bees. Vegan honey is becoming more widely available.
