I saw this today. Interesting article it says honeybees are not in decline; they are probably the most numerous bee on the planet,” there are more than 90 million honeybee hives globally, many rarer native pollinators are in increasingly precarious positions.
“Our wild pollinators are in serious trouble. Across the board we are seeing a loss of the abundance and the diversity of pollinating insects,”. “We are seeing threatened species becoming more threatened and more rare. We are seeing some species that we know are really on the brink of extinction.
Thanks for posting that interesting article. My garden provides natural habitat for quite a few different solitary bees and they forage alongside the honey bees. But unfortunately there are fewer and fewer corridors of habitat in urban areas. One of my next door neighbors routinely sprays Roundup on his property to keep it devoid of life. Go figure.
The other day I came across some data on the number of managed beehives worldwide. The top ten countries with the most managed beehives are India, China, Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia, Russia, Argentina, Tanzania, United States, and Mexico.
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That surprised me that honey bees are not in decline. The save the honey bees campaigns is one of the reasons I got a flow hive. That chart seems to support 90 million honey bee hives globally. I’m in a rural area so I don’t think it’s much of an issue here but I can see the lack of resources for bees in urban areas
All pollinators are suffering from lack of habitat and pesticides, and we can help them all by planting native plants and going organic.
It’s interesting to observe the world’s response to falling honey bee numbers, which has taken place over 10 years or so since information about CCD was first released in 2007.
From the get-go, Flow has made pollinator support, awareness and conservation a priority for their business positive impact programs. This includes the world’s pollinators, not just honey bees. If you want to know more about it, go to - Pollinator Support Program – Flow Hive US
My favourite thing about backyard beekeeping is how it can act as a gateway to the natural world for the beginner. Beekeeping is a unique medium for providing people with a more acute awareness, emotionally and intellectually, for how fragile and important the natural world is. By observing the bees, the beekeeper may begin to make other new observations such as what is and isn’t flowering and why, what it means for insects or animals to be poisoned by sprays/weed killers (and how sprays can effect humans), what it means to have pollination available or not, etc. A side effect of more informed and connected people to their natural world is better choices and spending of money for the environment (e.g. local and organic), plus obviously many more.
This article and others alike have a great point. We need to consider all pollinators. Beekeeping isn’t the only answer to protecting them but at least this new wave of beekeepers have kickstarted a movement that we can now pivot to include a broader spectrum of positive change and awareness.
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