Honeybees’ Reduction As A Serious Issue In The World

Today, Honeybees’ reduction is a serious issue in the world. Since 1947, honeybees have been reduced from 5.9 million to 2.4 million. This is over 40 per cent of honey bees (Amadeo, 2019). This reduction of honey bees came from several reasons including bee colony collapse disorder, habitat fragmentation, neonicotinoid, pesticide use, and climate change. Bee colony collapse disorder is the phenomenon that most worker bees disappear and leave behind their queen. Habitat fragmentation removes bee habitats and reduces gene flow between the population. Neonicotinoid is an insecticide that can reduce the honey bee population by its systematic chemical. Pesticide kills bee when people spray it over the surface of habitats of the honey bee by its toxicity. Climate change kills the bee by its unusual high or low climates. These fives are the main reasons for honey bee loss. Today, honey bee reduction is dramatically escalating around the world. From 2014 to 2016, around 40 per cent of honeybee colonies were gone (Sadler, 2016). Another research tells that the annual loss rate for honeybees rose to 40.7 per cent. (Reiley, 2019). Since a huge amount of honeybees were already gone and will be even more, it has dramatically damaged human lives. This essay, analyze how honeybee reduction impacts human lives on a global scale.

Food scarcity issues have occurred from honey bee reduction. The honey bee reduction affects the market for many crop foods such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables. This is because honey bee pollination greatly contributes to the growth of these foods. Pollination service is so important for agriculture industries because there is a need for almost 100 crop species that is one-third of the average diet. Since bee pollination contributes so much to agriculture, it is worth so much. For instance, bee pollination services are worth $15 million for the U.S. farming industry (Amadeo, 2019). Another research said that the economic cost of bee loss is immense because they contribute to 15-30 billion dollars in annual agricultural productivity (Sadler, 2016). Bees pollinate the crops that feed 90 per cent of the global population and if no bees are left in the world, all plants that they pollinate will be lost (Sexton, 2019). If there is no bee, 90 per cent of the global population will not be able to eat crops that they were eating daily. This is a serious issue that most people must realize now. From this analysis, it is clear that honey bee reduction leads to serious food scarcity.

The human health issue has occurred from honey bee reduction. If there is less pollination, less vitamin A people can get and it causes sickness and even death. The outcome of less pollination is increased birth defect and child mortality rate. This is because less pollination leads to nutrient deficiency. People who live in developed places are more likely affected by less pollination. This is because the risk of serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and certain cancer is higher for these people already. Pollinators including honey bees strongly contribute to human health. For instance, in countries like Mozambique, over 50 per cent of the population will have a risk of malnutrition if pollinators disappeared (Baxter, 2015). According to Elizabeth Shockman, “According to the study, if there is a 100 per cent decline in pollinators, 71 million people around the world would face a vitamin A deficiency, and 130 million people would face folate deficiency” (Shockman, 2015). From this data and analysis, it is clear that honey bee reduction causes human health problems.

Wildlife habitats issue happens from honey bee reduction. Honey bees contribute to millions of other insects and animals. They also strongly contribute to the growth of tropical forests, savannah woodlands, and temperature deciduous forests and many tree species. About 90 per cent of a wild plant depends on pollination. Since honey bees contribute to the growth of wildlife habitats, the environmental economy will be damaged dramatically if honey bees disappeared. Since Bees form part of a functionally important community of animals by providing service of pollination, they strongly support global ecosystems. (Steele and Shardlow, 2019). From this analysis, it is clear that honey bee reduction makes wildlife habitats an issue.

Again, many honey bees have been lost already and the decreasing number is accelerating even now. Because honey bees are strongly connected to human lives and economics, it is important to keep the number of honey bees sustainable. There are some potential solutions to this problem. For instance, beekeepers are coping bees and creating more queens and the environmental protection agency has stopped the approval of using neonicotinoid pesticides that harms honey bees. Many people start to realize the importance of honey bees and some countries started to take action for the issue. If the number of honey bees recovered, three main issues including food scarcity, human health issues, and wildlife habitats reduction will be reduced.