Bee Extinction

Bees and humans have long been intertwined in the history of the Earth. Some studies have shown that bees were kept by humans around as early as 20,000 BCE. 

Bees are an important part of many ecosystems in the world by taking part in pollination, pollinating around one-third to two-thirds of the most important crops that humans consume today. They are commonly accepted as one of nature’s most important pollinators, which makes them crucial for our crops to grow in this growing climate. 

World hunger and starvation are one of the many Sustainable Development Goals that the United Nations has implemented for the world, and the endangered status of bees are posing a huge threat to human food consumption and starvation. A few examples of the foods that would disappear without bees are apples, avocados, onions. Other than starvation and malnutrition, the resulting scarcity of food in this post-bee world would also drive up prices of food. This would also place a lot of financial burden on local farmers as they would struggle to grow their crops thus losing their jobs, possibly contributing to worldwide economic recessions in multiple sectors.

Colony Collapse Disorder

A US Department of Agriculture report in 2022 found that honey bee losses in managed colonies have risen up to 42%. In other words, the population of honeybees and bees have dramatically fallen in the past two decades. The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon that details when the majority of worker bees disappear, leaving the queen bee and nurse bees to maintain the colony. One of the known leading causes for CCD is the use of harmful pesticides. Acute pesticide poisoning of bees is known to create mass wipeout of bee colonies, thus leading to CCDs. 

Implemented solutions

The USDA in the US has been leading federal government responses to the occurrence of CCD. They have first conducted data collection to determine the extent of CCD and the current health of specific bee colonies. Analysis upon these bee samples will be done to determine pests, pathogens and exposure to pesticides. Then, they will focus on four main areas of mitigation - new and reemerging pathogens, bee pests, environmental and nutritional stresses and pesticides. Such actions are completely necessary to prevent further bee colony losses and Colony Collapse Disorders, thus actively fighting against malnutrition and world hunger.

Work Cited

Nrdc.org. (2022). A World Without Bees? Here’s What Happens If Bees Go Extinct. [online] Available at: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/world-without-bees-heres-what-happens-if-bees-go-extinct [Accessed 14 Mar. 2025].

US EPA. (2013). Colony Collapse Disorder | US EPA. [online] Available at: https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder [Accessed 14 Mar. 2025].

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