Dwindling Bee Population: Action Plan To Save Bees
Bees population have been dwindling day by day since 2018 and now this has become a global issue. US National Agricultural Statistics show a decline of bees from six million hives in 1942 to 2.4 million hives in 2008, a 60 percent reduction. A study suggests India has lost 45.5 percent of the bees between April 2020 and April 2021. The production of honey has been greatly affected by the decline in the number of bees which can be an alarming time for the farming industry. The major reasons for the worldwide decline of bees are many. One reason that scientists suggest can be less forage and shelter for the bees. Urban development has lead to the distribution of bees’ habitat which leads to a decline in bees population as there are no friendly habitats left for bees. Modern intensive farming has also disturbed bees’ habitat.
Climate change has also been one of the major reasons. When winter hits, the climate becomes warmer and there can be times where the bees can be at the wrong place and at the wrong time which will lead to disrupting bee nests. More and more usage of pesticides by the farming industry is also not very good for the bees. Pesticides are meant to kill unwanted pests but their harmful effects are not good for the bees. After the pesticides have been affected there are very few chances for the bees to survive. There are some diseases that are also seen in bees which is not very clear but has contributed to the dwindling of the bees.
Honeybees are very necessary because 50 percent of our food is dependent on honey and there are a whole lot of things that can’t be made without honey. Things like carrots, lemons, apples, and our favorite honey will not be available to us if it was not for the honeybees. So we are absolutely dependent on them. Honeybees are one of the most essential pollinators and there has been a huge decline and disappearance of honeybees in the world. If we don’t control this decline, humans will not be able to enjoy many food items which are very available to us today.
There is a need to create awareness about the decline of honeybees around the world. People should try to create a friendly habitat for the honeybees, be it a park, yard, or anything which will not reduce the chances of a friendly habitat. One should also go chemical-free so as to reduce the harmful effects for the bees. To create more awareness Food and Agricultural Organization has also declared 20th May as World Bee Day as it is for the Northern Hemisphere, it is the greatest time for pollination and in Southern Hemisphere, it is time for harvesting honey and bee products.
20th May has been marked by United Nations so as to create awareness in the world about bees. It’s high time to take the decline of the bee population seriously otherwise we won’t be able to enjoy many food products.