Corona Daily 438: Wild Bee Celebrations

On 20 May, UN celebrates World Bee Day. This year’s event Bee Engaged was virtual. Famous actors read poems dedicated to bees. Bee lovers can watch them online. Not only the day, but this year has been a big source of joy and celebration. For the bees, of course. 

Why are bees so important? Because our survival depends on their survival.

Pollination is the process that transfers pollen from the male part of the plant to the female part of the plant. Just like in humans, seeds and fertilization require the union of a male and a female. Plants or crops can’t pollinate without external help. Bees, the hardest working creatures, are more efficient than wind, bats, birds and other insects; bees pollinate on a much bigger scale. Bees fertilise one third of the food we eat, and 80% of the flowering plants. Trees and woods are essential for filtering the air, and bees for pollinating to procure food for us. We studied this as children, and forgot it as adults.

But the bee population is declining rapidly. This rate of decline threatens to make bees, butterflies and bats extinct. Extinction rates are 100-1000 times higher due to human impact. Pollution, pesticides, intensive farming practices, climate change, even vehicle traffic destroy bees. Bees lose their sense of smell and get confused due to pollution. Bees come to pollinate, consume pesticides and die. Every year, North American vehicles kill 24 billion bees and wasps on roads.  

The absence of bees would wipe out not only broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, apricots, strawberries, but also apples, tomatoes, almonds, coffee and cocoa, crops that rely on the pollination of bees. In the event of bees’ extinction, fruits, nuts and vegetables would disappear from our plates. The resulting starchy diet of rice, corn and potatoes is very imbalanced.

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The worldwide lockdowns have done wonders for wildlife. The strait of Istanbul normally sees only oil tankers, now it is full of dolphins. Wild boars are wandering in the center of Haifa in Israel; large flocks of pink flamingos have arrived in Albania after its leather processing factories were shut, cougars are roaming the streets of Santiago, and Kashmiri goats are seen in Wales.

Wild bees are having the time of their life. Humans and vehicles have disappeared. In a world free of pollution, bees can make shorter and more profitable shopping trips, and that helps them grow their population, says Mark Brown, ecologist at the University of London.

In the UK, councils regularly maintain and level the grass outside public properties, roads, churches. Since March, this work has stopped. As a result, grass and flowers have grown everywhere, providing plenty of surprise food for the bees. A movement called ‘Don’t mow, let it grow’ has advocated this unsuccessfully for years. Coronavirus has finally forced the UK government’s hand.

If bees could pray, they would pray for lockdowns to last forever.

Ravi