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| © Fred Dott / Greenpeace |
There are still more than 300 authorized hazardous products for bees
Thanks to the thousands of signatures across Europe for bees are now four banned toxic insecticides. However, they are temporary and partial bans. In Spain there are still allowed 319 dangerous products for bees. So we ask you to sign to require the Spanish Government:
Set a timetable for banning the most harmful pesticides (imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, fipronil, chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin and cypermethrin).
Bees are disappearing and with them many other pollinating insects that are essential for the development of major crops intended for human consumption in Spain. Therefore, and for the love he professes to these insects, the beekeeper Jesus Gonzalez coordinates the project “Adopt A Hive” where hives sustainably managed and partners can sponsor one to change honey. «Bees can be saved. The key is to create a strong empathic bond with them that impels us to act. We need people to love and want to bees as any other animal or pet» Alejandro Panés (@AlexKafiri) proclaims.
“We no longer remember their buzz and honey we eat is a substitute” he says. Children grow up not knowing how their sting hurts or how it smells a flower. Kiwis, pumpkins, melons, watermelons, zucchini, apples, peaches and almonds have become luxury products, at least the truth. We have reacted late. Overexploitation of hives in manufacturing and indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides have dented. Bees can not live in the world we have created.
The above paragraph may well be accompanied by a dark melody, a sharp cry and a certified ‘dystopian product’ label. Unfortunately, it’s not that far from reality. In southwest China, farmers pollinate their apple and pear trees by hand. In Spain we run the serious risk of following in his footsteps. Fortunately, there are still people who have not given up. Jesus Gonzalez takes a lifetime keeping bees and four years as head of Adopt a Beehive in Pedro Bernardo, Ávila. An ecological and sustainable project that puts their bit to overcome this problem. «Bees pollinate up to 160,000 species of fruit, flowers and trees. Of all these, they alone are concerned with the 80 percent», Jesus says. He is convinced that can be saved. Everything happens for creating and strengthening the bond between people and bees.
Reluctantly, the bees are disappearing and with them many other pollinating insects such as bumblebees — How long haven’t you seen one? —, butterflies and others. In a Greenpeace study, entitled Food under threat, the NGO states that nearly three quarters of major crops for human consumption in Spain depend on pollination by these insects. Something extremely relevant to food level, but also commercial, since Spain is the second largest producer of almonds, peaches and nectarines quarter and third of strawberries, crops belonging to the most vulnerable to lack of pollination by insects. Furthermore, Spain is the EU country most important in terms of honey production, with 17 percent of the total community census.
For its part, the European Union has been made to quantify the depopulation of beehives and identify the causes. In April 2014, the European Reference Laboratory for bee health (EURL) published the results of the first active surveillance program on mortality in bee hives (EPILOBEE). The research was conducted on more than 30,000 hives of 17 members throughout 2012 and 2013 and, in addition to counting deaths, collected agricultural practices and clinical manifestations of the most prominent countries infectious and parasitic diseases. In winter, most delicate time, mortality ranged between 3.5 percent and 33.6 hive. The countries of northern Europe were the most affected with figures above 20 percent while Spain and other Mediterranean countries lost less than 10 percent of the hives studied. However, these data contradict those of the Spanish beekeeping, published in the study of Greenpeace, who claim that the mortality in our country was between 20% and 40 percent. Something is wrong here.
Develop a comprehensive action plan to protect bees and other pollinators and set a roadmap to increase to 7.6 million hectares the area devoted to organic farming in 2020.
From today's actions depend on future generations of humans and other species.Firm to ask the Spanish authorities to protect the bees! see more at Que-puedes-hacer-tu/Ser-ciberactivista/salvar-abejas/
EGA is registered as 14.302 Engineer at COITIMadrid
