Project Bee: For a more buzzing world!

The problem

The extinction of bees has been reported for many years. Many people think directly of honey bees, but it is not honey bees that should be worrying us. Because they will probably never die out thanks to the care of their caring beekeepers. Bee mortality actually refers to the many different species of wild bees such as mason bees, trouser bees, sand bees, furrow bees and masked bees. You can find an overview of all wild bee species and their occurrence here. In contrast to honey bees, wild bees usually live alone and are therefore also known as solitary or hermit bees.

In Germany, 60% of the more than 560 wild bee species are currently threatened.¹ Across Europe, the bee population has declined by around 10% in recent years. The USA has recorded a decline of 30% and in the Middle East the population has even been decimated by 85%.² In some regions of China, bee mortality has progressed to such an extent that fruit trees are pollinated manually by migrant workers.³

Reasons for bee mortality

There is no single reason for bee mortality, it is a multitude of factors that interact and favour bee mortality. The reasons include

  • The use of insecticides in agriculture and other poisons that insects ingest in the air.
  • The development of areas (housing estates, industry or roads) displaces habitats for insects and plants.
  • Due to climate change, many plants are now flowering much earlier than in the past. This is upsetting the natural rhythm of insects.⁴

But why do we actually need bees?

Without bees, our daily food supply would be very meagre, as many plants are dependent on pollination by bees. Especially the fruit we eat every day.

  • 80% of native wild plants and crops depend on pollination by bees.⁵
  • 30% of all human food comes from bee-pollinated plants.
  • The economic benefit of pollination by bees in Germany is around 2 billion euros.
  • Across Europe, the economic benefit amounts to 14.2 billion euros⁶ and as much as 135-180 billion euros worldwide.⁷
  • Bees are the third most important farm animal in Germany due to the value they generate through their pollination service.
  • Without bees, no cocoa: Cultivated plants such as cocoa, vanilla and passion fruit are 100 per cent dependent on pollination by bees.
  • Crops pollinated by bees (e.g. strawberries) have a significantly higher yield and the fruit is of a higher quality (e.g. has a longer shelf life) than fruit from unpollinated plants.

The solution

There are certainly many solutions to the problem. However, we would like to focus here on simple, pragmatic and cost-effective solutions that anyone can implement themselves at home and in their daily lives with little effort.

Bee hotels

Bienenhotel Icon

Bee hotels are the ideal nesting place for wild bees in the city. A bee hotel doesn't take up much space and can be easily set up or hung up on the balcony. A nice side effect: you can watch the daily activity in your bee hotel live. 🙂

You can buy bee hotels from numerous suppliers or build your own at home with our ‘Build your own bee hotel’ instructions.

You can buy bee hotels from the following shops, for example:

Flowering plants

Blume Icon

Plant flower-rich and bee-friendly plants (sunflowers, beeweed, wildflowers, bluebells, wild vines, lavender, milkweed, ornamental leeks or catnip) or culinary herbs (thyme, rosemary, basil) in your garden or on your balcony. This gives the bees the opportunity to obtain sufficient food (especially in the city) from different crops and thus strengthen their offspring and themselves. In addition, you will always have fresh herbs at home for cooking. 🙂

You can buy seeds for bee-friendly plants from the following shops:

Avoid insecticides/pesticides

Pestizid-frei Icon

When shopping, make sure that you buy food that has been produced without the use of pesticides. This is because the supply in the supermarket is controlled by customer demand. The more organic food is bought, the more organic food is produced.

If you grow your own fruit and vegetables in your garden, you should also avoid the use of insecticides and pesticides.

Act & Share!

  • Hang up bee hotels on your balcony or in the garden. (Don't forget to share it with us using the hashtag #projectbee!)
  • Plant bee-friendly plants in your garden or on your balcony.
  • Bee hotels instead of gift vouchers: Bee hotels are a great birthday or Christmas present
  • Become part of our global #projectbee community and share your bee hotel or your flowers, herbs or other plants planted for bees.

Support us by sharing Project Bee with your friends!

Sources:
¹https://www.laves.niedersachsen.de/startseite/tiere/bienenkunde/bienensterben---eine-differenzierte-betrachtung-165520.html
²https://www.nabu.de/tiere-und-pflanzen/insekten-und-spinnen/hautfluegler/bienen/13676.html
³http://www.imkerverein-hohesfichtelgebirge.com/handbestaeubung-in-china.html
⁴http://www.umweltinstitut.org/themen/landwirtschaft/artensterben/bienen/gruende-fuer-das-bienensterben.html
⁵https://www.laves.niedersachsen.de/download/43188/Bestaeubung_-Wieso_benoetigen_wir_Honigbienen_um_Obst_ernten_zu_koennen.pdf
⁶https://www.bund.net/themen/tiere-pflanzen/wildbienen/wildbienenkunde/bestaeubung/
⁷https://berlin.deutschland-summt.de/files/media_bs/pdf/2015/2015_09_27_volkswirtschaftlicher_nutzen_bienen_cdu_abgeordnetenhaus.pdf

Picture Sources:
Bienenstock: Icons made by Darius Dan from www.flaticon.com
Sonnenblume: Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Insektizid: Icons made by Flat Icons from www.flaticon.com