Loss of bees and pollinators could endanger our wellbeing and global peace
Published on: May 19, 2021, Submitted by Laura Becker on: May 12, 2021
Why are bees and other small insects so important for us? Spend five minutes for watching this video and recognize, to which extent our human wellbeing, our food, medicines, home, landscapes and work depend on these tiny animals. Don’t take it for granted, that we can survive without bees and flies and wasps and butterflies. However, start today, World Bee Day 2021 to become a champion for bee and pollinator protection!
How pollinator loss impacts global peace
There is global decline of bees and wild pollinators. However, we depend on their services in so many aspects: We wear cotton and linen and sleep well in these materials. 75% of the most important food crops depend on pollinators: Coffee, tea, cocoa, fruits, nuts, vegetables, oil seeds, spices. Without pollinators we can have wheat, rice, maize, banana – and malnutrition, as we might have lack of vitamins and other important ingredients. Lacking pollinator-dependent crops: imagine the impact on food industries, jobs, stock exchange and the emptiness of shops and markets. Visualize a lunch, a wedding or any other holiday without the delicious food depending on bees and other pollinators.
87% of all flowering plants depend on pollinators, imagine we would lose the beauty, the scent, the fruits these flowering plants produce. Imagine the impact for oxygen production, prevention of erosion and mudflows. Where to go for a walk, where to travel for vacation, if all these plants are lost and impoverished landscapes are prone to storms and pests? Without these flowering plants, many animals would lose their nutrition and go extinct on long term. Our world would change and impoverish rapidly without bees and other pollinators.
How would we humans react on interlinked spirals of environmental and economic deterioration? Which options would we have? Which reactions would be counterproductive, fuel pollinator decline or fuel climate change? Why is pollinator loss a risk for peace?
Take a break of five minutes, watch the video and become a protagonist for pollinator protection – in your family, your village or town, in your farm, your working place or as an activist in an NGO and policy.
The good news: Pollinator Protection is not as costly as climate change mitigation. Use Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) and benefit in multiple ways.
Acknowledgement
CGIAR portfolios & Partners
Keywords
Countries
About the author
