“If the bee were to disappear from the surface of the globe, man would only have 5 years to live”. This quote from Albert Einstein takes on its full meaning in the current environmental context. It also alerts to the importance of these insignificant insects for many of us, but ultimately vital to the survival of human and non-human species, as well as their ecosystems. How can such small living beings be of such magnitude in the face of the climate crisis we are going through?

Bees are our allies

Pollinators contribute directly to food security, the UN reminds us via its program for the environment. If this category includes animals such as monkeys, birds or rodents, it is especially known for insects.

According to beekeeping experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: 75% of global food production depends on pollinating insects. Although the wind promotes pollination, between 60% and 90% of wild plants require the help of pollinating insects, such as bees, in order to reproduce. And to speak the economic language of our current models, according to the NGO Greenpeace, pollination represents 265 billion dollars of service rendered in the world.

In fact, the global production of honey per year amounts to around 1,6 million tonnes, with around 81 million active hives around the globe (May 2019 report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES)).

If these figures are impressive by their scale, they are partly explained by a historical phenomenon of the insertion of bees. The latter, contrary to what one thinks, does not date from yesterday, because in the Middle Ages, already, the human exploited the hives in town. In recent decades, particularly due to global warming, many scientists are sounding the alarm on the urgency of conserving biodiversity. It is therefore in an ecological approach that the phenomenon of integration of bees has resumed and is increasing.

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