We have choses 10 stories where the bees have had some role in 2014. We have forgotten the sad part , reflected in headlines like «Reducing flowers kills bees «, «Towards a world without bees or » The murderers of bees spread their viruses to other pollinators «, to focus on other more optimistic news. We hope you like .
– President Obama wants to keep bees in the US. June 2014 The Washington Post. The population of honeybees in this country is half what it was at the end of the Second World War . In order to ensure the sustainability of food production system in the United States, protect the health of the environment and prevent economic impact on the agricultural sector, President Barack Obama presented a memorandum which set national strategies for pollinators . An interdepartmental agency created with a budget for 2015 of 36 million euros, will have the goal of avoiding the continued decline of pollinators, butterflies and bats included. The impact of the work of these insects in the US economy is estimated between 15 000 and 24 000 USA million dollars per year. Confirmation of the steady decline in the number of hives of honey bee has forced this action.
– Guerlain celebrates the 160th anniversary of the perfume bottle with bees. By January 2014 an exhibition was held in its store on the Champs Elysees, This beautiful design with bees has lasted all these years, and remains a source of inspiration. Presented to the Empress Maria Eugenia, wife of Napoleon III, has been associated with luxury and quality. Have the bees helped to its success?
– Dogs against killer wasps. El Pais. October 2014. That someone trains his Border Collie dog to detect nests of Vespa velutina is a good initiative. The owner prepares his dog to detect the remains of material with which these wasps build their nests. If confirmed during next spring that this initiative works, it will provide a new tool in the fight to control this invasive wasp that can be very harmful to bees.
– A pitbull saves a child from attack by a swarm of angry bees. Diario ABC. August 2014. Another positive news with a dog as a protagonist. Will beekeepers in the future need dogs to care for their bees»?
It happened in the state of Oregon (USA). Children playing ran around a trunk containing a swarm of bees. After sufferingsom bee stings they allran out,, but one of them, with more than 20 bee stings could not escape and fortunately was dragged by his pitbull dog away from the area. The dog takes its own danger, and of course, also carries some stings.
– Honey bees come from Asia, not Africa. Diario ABC. August 2014. An analysis of the genetic material of honey bees has provided this information. The study also confirmed the high genetic variability, which is positive to discard their influence on the disappearance of bees, also concluded that Apis mellifera came from Asia to Europe and Africa 300,000 years ago, contrary to what was believed.
– The EC partially banned three pesticides that harm bees. April 2014. All the press. Good news, we hope to be supplemented in the coming years with many more. The use of some insecticides killing bees and created by humans has been prohibited, «The European Commission (EC) announced that it will continue its plan to ban the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides that contribute to the decline of colonies of bees, considered vital to the ecosystem, after approval of this proposal by a majority of EU countries. We would like to get more, but it’s a start.
– Bee robots are here. The Washington Post.August 2014. It seems that President Obama’s comments on the importance of pollination of crops, has made the technological industries to move. At Harvard, Robert Wood team has bee already working on a flight mechanism equipped with sensors and batteries, which flies from flower to flower, collecting and depositing pollen like a honey bee. We are not keen on this idea, and we prefer these little robots, instead of replacing bees could be used for space exploration or mobile data receivers.
As Greenpeace protest, this video with the robot bees. Should we create a new world or save ours? We stand with our own.
– Beekeepers in Cameroon. June 2014. The Guardian. Unfortunately there are still few news in beekeeping where womenare the protagonists. That’s why we liked this article published in the English press.
It was in 1997 when Marianna Tanda founded a beekeeping cooperative for women in northwest Cameroon. Revenues from the sale of honey were used to pay the uniform to allow their children access to education.
– Tarantula venom as harmless pesticide to bees. June 2014. Maxisciences.com. Some hope for beekeepers and their bees. News report on a study conducted by the University of Newcastle, where a biopesticide based on tarantula venom combined with pollen was researched as a possible alternative to neonicotinoids.
– A «bee friendly» label. Le Figaro. Any initiative is little to help pollinators at present. So we wanted to conclude our overview with this encouraging news.
«A label to rescue bee decline. Several European associations launched Monday in France label Bee friendly, which distinguish from late 2014 some products – for the moment fruits, vegetables and dairy products – whose manufacture does not harm the vitality of bees or prevent the existence of flowers where bees can work. An audit will ensure that certified producers banish a number of pesticides, including neonicotinoids and GMOs.
It has started by the sectors that have easier compliance, to promote good practice, sometimes as simple as mowing the meadows in the early morning or at dusk, when the bees are not foraging.
Wishing them all the luck in this initiative and bring us many good 2015 bee-related news.
