May 20th 'World Bee Day'... Where Have All the Honeybees Gone?

Established to Commemorate the Birthday of a Pioneer in Modern Beekeeping
Honeybees Aid Crop Pollination... Closely Linked to Human Life
Concerns Over 'Mass Disappearance' Due to Climate Change and Other Factors

May 20th is World Bee Day, designated by the United Nations. World Bee Day was established in 2018 to commemorate the birthday of Anton Jan?a from Slovenia, a pioneer in modern beekeeping.

Honeybees perform pollination by transferring pollen to the pistil, enabling fruit to develop. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 71% of the world's top 100 crops are pollinated by honeybees. Without honeybees, the growth of fruits, vegetables, and grains would be severely impacted, and a decrease in production would significantly affect humans as well.

Photo by Yonhap News

However, a large-scale disappearance of honeybees occurred from January to February last year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, about 390,000 wintering managed honeybee colonies (approximately 7.8 million bees, with about 20,000 bees per colony) died during last winter in South Korea. Currently, the number of managed honeybee colonies for beekeeping is estimated at 2.4 million colonies, a 6% (150,000 colonies) decrease compared to the average of 2.55 million colonies.

According to a joint investigation on winter bee damage announced by the Rural Development Administration in March last year, the causes of this honeybee disappearance incident were identified as the honeybee mite pest, the natural enemy hornet, and abnormal weather conditions. The Rural Development Administration reported that mites were observed in most of the affected colonies. In some farms, to minimize damage from honeybee mites, multiple pesticides were excessively used?up to three times the recommended amount?negatively affecting honeybee development before winter.

Additionally, from September to October 2021, low temperatures hindered honeybee development, and from November to December, high temperatures caused flowers to bloom earlier than usual, weakening the colonies. Due to weakened colonies, worker bees that were wintering exhausted their energy through external activities such as pollen collection and failed to return to the hives.

South Korea is not the only country experiencing a honeybee crisis. In Iraq, the beekeeping industry has also been affected by climate change. According to a recent foreign news report, Iraqi beekeepers are struggling with decreased productivity and honey quality due to rising temperatures, reduced rainfall, and frequent dust storms.

To prevent mass honeybee deaths, it has been suggested that flower and tree fields for bees need to be secured on a scale exceeding 300,000 hectares?more than 1,000 times the area of Yeouido.

On the 18th, the environmental organization Greenpeace and Andong National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation released a report titled "The Crisis of Bees and Policy Proposals for Protection," stating, "As the Earth's temperature has risen by 1.09 degrees Celsius in about 200 years, flowers are blooming and withering repeatedly before bees awaken from hibernation," and diagnosing that 300,000 hectares of forage plants providing pollen and nectar for honeybees must be secured.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.