"If the bees disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."                                                                                                                       Albert Einstein Biodiversity, including cultural plants, should be considered one of the most important natural resources for humankind. Biosphere provides nutrition (although FAO estimates more than 800 million people suffering from chronic undernourishment), energy (e.g. lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production) or material (often harvested from wood plantations). In fact a lot of such ecosystem services may be provided only through pollination of plants, for instance by bees. However, apart from very important pollination bees play an essential role in apiculture (beekeeping) with many well-known and useful products such as honey, wax or propolis. Approximately 120, 000 bees are able to produce 1 kg of honey and a single bee can produce only about a tablespoon of honey during its lifetime. According to European Commission “despite being the world's second largest honey producer, the EU is a net importer of honey as domestic production only covers around 60% of consumption. The main supplier of honey imported into the EU is China, followed by Ukraine and countries in Latin America.“ Bees live in a specific colony which consists of 3 castes: a queen (the only sexually mature female), usually 30,000 – 50,000 female worker bees and some male drones participating on sexual reproduction. A colony works as one organism, chemically controlled by queen´s pheromones. But this system may become very fragile... Bees often suffer from various diseases (e.g. viral, bacterial, protozoan and fungal diseases) as well as from parasites such as varroa mites. In fact pesticides may often have more lethal impact on the colonies. Synergistically with a lot of environmental and ecological problems, such as climate change, soil, water or air pollution pesticides may be contributing to colony collapse disorder characterized by sudden colony death, with a lack of healthy adult bees inside the hive. According to Greenpeace “a blockbuster Harvard study has recently found that a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids might just be the prime culprit in the honeybee plague known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Since the first reports of CCD in the early 2000s, theories as to its origin have abounded. Pesticides have always been understood to play a key role and neonicotinoids have raised suspicions most of all. Neonicotinoids, representing 24 % of the global market with insecticides, are relatively new alternatives of pesticides. Their name refers to chemical similarity with nicotine, the well-known stimulant used in cigarettes. Neonicotinoids have been officially registered in more than 120 countries and are known by high efficiency. Bees do not need to ingest a great deal of the pesticide for it to exert its deadly effect. According to Science ABC “the tragic irony of this is that by killing bees, we’re only hurting ourselves. Our survival depends on the health of the planet and its species, and unless we begin to face this fact, we will continue to contribute to our own demise. Unless we take drastic measures to save the bees, the planet’s survival is in doubt.“

Location

global

Environmental impact

• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Land degradation (e.g. drought, soil contamination, erosion and desertification)
• Biodiversity loss – Ecosystem destruction
• Depletion of natural resources (fossil and mineral, forest, water, etc)

Ethical/ legal issues

• Health and well-being
• A clean and prosperous environment and a safe and pleasant habitat
• Access to public goods/ resources and products
• Personal and social development, economic progress and innovation

Information sources & materials

Contributor(s)

Peter Fedor, Professor of Environmental Ecology

 

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