We lose bees and their honey: What this means for our environment and our lives

The bees disappear. And this is not something new as it has been for the last decade. However, the worst part is that with them, the honey their.

French beekeepers are expecting the worst production in decades this year, as unusually cold, prolonged frost and humidity due to climate change have prevented bees from producing honey, such as the Guardian emphasizes.

According to UNAF Beekeepers Association, based on data collected by local associations, expect production between 7,000 – 9,000 tons of honey for 2021, ie one third of the corresponding production of 2020.

“Will be the worst beekeeping in the history of our organization, the worst for at least 50 years, said UNAF President Christian Pon.

He noted that not only the French, but all beekeepers in Europe have been hit by bad weather this year and that climate change will have lasting effects on honey production.

UNAF spoke of “a catastrophic year, as the spring and summer weather, with prolonged periods of frost, cold, rain and northerly winds, were extremely severe for bees”.

“Climate change, which beekeepers have been experiencing for more than 15 years, is seriously affecting us,” UNAF said. flowering periods have become shorter and occur earlier, disrupting the program and the balance of the hive.

This year, for example, due to frost and rain, it is estimated that there will be no acacia honey for the second year in a row, while negligible until production of thyme honey from rosemary, heather, chestnut and sunflower will be zero. According to UNAF, the production this year was also disappointing for mountain honey, forest honey and pine honey.

The (threat to humanity) extinction of the bee

Over There are a total of 20,000 species of bees around the world and for about 15 years they have been gradually disappearing and dying., due to climate change, pesticide poisoning and the loss of plants, shrubs and trees.

Researchers have recently taken an important first step towards conserving bees, creating the first modern map of bee species that exist and live worldwide.

“We wanted to create the first modern map of bee species wealth because we need to know where the bees live in order to keep them in numbers,” he told CNN. Michael Orr, lead author of the study and postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“This is an important first step in this and in the future we can start working harder to address the threats to bees, such as the destruction of their hives and climate change,” he said.

At the same wavelength moves o US Food and Agriculture Organization, arguing with a relevant study of how “A world without bees will be a world without fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.” This is because almost 1/3 of the world’s crops depend on the pollination of the bee for its fertilization with the bees disappearing en masse and at unprecedented rates from 2006-07 until today.

The reasons for the disappearance are more or less known: Pesticides, diseases, pests, climate change and human over-exploitation of bees are just some of the interpretations that have been suggested from time to time.

What will happen if the bees disappear

So what would the world and human daily life not have without the bee?

Without the bee we will certainly not have honey and not only in edible form, as the whole cosmetics industry will also be affected, as honey is used as a main ingredient in moisturizers, soaps, shampoos, etc.

Also, the most fruits and vegetables will disappear from the face of the earth: Apples, onions, avocados, carrots, mangoes, lemons, cherries, zucchini, eggplants, cucumbers, celery, cauliflower, leeks, broccoli and many more will gradually be a thing of the past.

But also the oilseeds, such as cotton, sunflower, coconut, palm oil and many more that depend on or benefit from bee pollination will disappear, dragging more than half of the world diet into fat and oil.

As for the global economic impact on agriculture of the inability of the bee to fertilize this 1/3 of the crops that depend directly on its existence? According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, they are estimated at 153 billion euros.

As we understand it, after all this, one thing is important: the bee and our eyes!