Environment: bees must also be protected in urban areas
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May 20 is World Bee Day. AP - Heribert Proepper
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
World Bee Day is held this Saturday, May 20. They are essential for food production, but they are threatened. In France, nearly 30% of bees disappear each winter because of the disruption of our ecosystems. To raise awareness of the issue, La REcyclerie, an ecological place and restaurant in Paris, is organizing this weekend the mini-festival "Big Bisou aux abeilles". The objective: to remind in a playful way the importance of these pollinators in our ecosystem.
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In this former industrial station, pastries and honey drinks parade on the twenty tables of La REcyclerie. But this mom didn't just come to enjoy a honeyed meal in the sun. "We're here for my three-and-a-half-year-old son, to discover bees and hives," she told Tanita Fallet for RFI.
The little boy loves bees, and so does Sebastian. This beekeeper set up his honey stand here for the weekend, with a message to convey: "We introduce beekeeping to city dwellers. Bees are everywhere, also in the city. City dwellers may not be aware of this.
»And you just have to raise your head to go against it: The REcyclerie has six hives on its roof. She proposes to visit the place, on the occasion of World Bee Day. There are more than 1,500 plants on the roof, and bees can forage there. Marie-Eugenie Chanvillard, co-organizer of the event, explains:
« Bees have deserted for a long time the city centers of France and large megacities. It's important to realize, as we concreted all the city centers, many living beings disappeared. It is not because we have concreted everything in the city centers that there are not trees, plants ... We are trying to do more and more urban agriculture. And for all that, we need bees around us. »
Urban agriculture is likely to increase: according to the United Nations, 80% of humanity will live in urban areas by 2050.
Elisa Bodin, Climates, on the differences between honeybees and wild pollinators
RFI
" READ ALSO – Bees, sentinels of biodiversity, in great danger
High-voltage lines disturb bees
Bees are in decline – as we already knew – due in particular to the destruction of their natural habitat and the use of pesticides in agriculture. Human causes to which we can add a third: high-voltage lines. This was discovered by a team of scientists from Chile, who published their results in the prestigious journal Science.
Bees play an essential role. Not only do they produce honey, but by foraging, they participate in the reproduction of plants in natural areas. This is why their decline is worrying and it is important for biologists to know the causes. In addition to the well-known destruction of their habitat and the use of chemicals in agriculture, there is a third: high-voltage power lines.
The passage of a strong current generates an electromagnetic field near the pylons. This field disturbs bees, which normally use Earth's bees to find their way in space. Near these lines, it becomes more complicated for them. Stressed, bees forage less.
The Chilean team behind this study observed a very sharp decrease in bee visits to flowers in the region. They forage less, and therefore, pollinate less as well. The researchers detailed how this affected the diversity and abundance of local flora.
>> Read also: Electromagnetic fields disrupt the pollination service by honeybees (journal Science
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- Environment
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