The importance of bees

It sounds dramatic, but that’s the way it is. The loss of biodiversity that would ensue if the bees disappeared or were simply minimized would spell environmental catastrophe. In terms of human nutrition, food security would suffer a real debacle. Not surprisingly, 35 percent of world food production depends directly on them.

As a curiosity, if its activity had to be carried out mechanically, it would cost a whopping 153 billion euros, according to Greenpeace data. But the crux of the matter goes in other directions. Those who do not speak of producers or economic losses. Not even a change in the model of society. Directly, we can go packing for a rocket to take us to unknown directions.

Beyond money, honey production, how important pollinators are to increase crop yields at an economic level, what is at stake is the pollination of flowers , essential for the sustainability of agriculture in all the world.

Albert Einstein did not hesitate to affirm that the human being would not remain on the planet for even a few years if the bees disappeared. A hypothetical extinction of these small animals would significantly damage the ecological balance of the planet. As we have pointed out, and Einstein himself supports, as well as science in general, to such an extent that human survival would be impossible.

But how can humanity depend on a simple insect? Its role with respect to ecological balance is key, that is an irrefutable fact, with which we can go even further.

To be more exact, since pollination ensures the birth of plant species on Earth, if they fail the food chain does too. Thus, pollination would result in an irreparable loss of countless animal and plant species , including the vast majority of those that humans need to ensure their food.

Of course, it could be the great opportunity to collinate the world of microscopic living beings, although they also inhabit the current ecosystem, with which there would also be fundamental changes. And, be that as it may, the truth is that without bees, the world would be quite another.

In the words of Luis Pérez Ventosa, President of the Fundación Amigos de la Abejas:

Plants and bees need each other. The flowers are for the bees a source of food, of life. For flowers, bees are a source of reproduction, of love. The true value of bees is not in the products that the beekeeper removes them, but in what they contribute to the reproduction of plants and to biodiversity. Bees and plants form a pillar that feeds and enriches the ecosystem, which in turn nourishes a multitude of insects, birds and mammals. If one of the elements of the pillar fails, everything will fall, this is how we all perceive it in our subconscious. Hopefully that day never comes.

For a few years now, bees have been walking a tightrope. Its decline is alarming because of how fast its population is declining. In practically the entire globe, these pollinators are essential for ecological balance. Its main enemies, pesticides . That is to say, the same intensive agriculture that is taking advantage of its pollinating function is walking, with it, towards its own extinction.

After decades of uncertainty, without finding the cause that was making them disappear, science has finally reached a consensus on the reason that is erasing them from the map. With the aggravation that the bees have no weapons to fight this enemy.

Indeed, according to research published in the journal Nature, neither the common bumblebee nor the European bee (Apis mellifera) are capable of detecting the presence of the three most common neonicotinoid pesticides. As a consequence, logically, they cannot avoid them and are completely defenseless against them. Furthermore, the very loss of biodiversity works against them. As if it were a vicious circle or domino effect, there is more and more space colonized by conventional agriculture, veritable wastelands where they cannot do their daily chore, and when they are “lucky” that it brings flowers close to them. To be able to pollinate, they are usually loaded with pesticides.

Its effect on your body is insane. In fact, they go crazy, lose their ability to guide, and the joke ends up costing them their lives. This is because pesticides act on the central nervous system of insects. In addition, since they cannot avoid them, populations continue to plummet.

Attempts to stop this situation are insufficient, but they are still interesting. Given that the population does not recover and its existence is vital for agriculture and, in general, for human survival.