Most people are understandably afraid of bees. From its anxiety-triggering buzz to the potentially fatal reaction to its sting, there are a myriad of reasons for people to be frightened by the sheer sight of the creature. However, what a lot of people fail to recognize is the crucial role of bees in maintaining a healthy ecosystem, which begins with pollinating flowers so that fruits and vegetables can grow. With the goal of restoring the diminishing number of bees, campaigns such as Save the Bees are taking initiatives to help create a safer environment for the tiny yet important workers.

The Save the Bees campaign is a decade-long project taken up by many environmental organizations such as Greenpeace USA and Wildlife Trusts. Launched in 2009, the campaign primarily gained momentum when people started to acknowledge the importance of bees in the human food chain. Although the goal of Save the Bees may seem quite simple – “saving the bees” – a realistic, clear-cut solution to the continuous decline of the bee population does not yet exist. This is because a variety of factors undermine the well-being of these creatures, including pesticides, viruses, climate change, habitat loss, and more. Yet, the wide range of possible factors all point to one central cause: human activity.

Ironically enough, the decline of bees has a direct impact on humans’ daily lives as well. According to the charity Bug Life, “A third of all food we eat relies on [bees],” which means “fruits like strawberries, apples, and pears could become extinct within 25 years” without bees. Moreover, the benefits that bees bring to humans are not limited to pollination. For instance, the applications of beeswax range from beauty products and candles to furniture wax and food preservatives. In essence, large numbers of daily essentials that humans enjoy today heavily rely on bees.

Complex Regulations are Needed

The list of solutions that can possibly help save bees is endless. One of the main ways the government can help is by regulating use of certain pesticides. Studies from the environmental organization Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation have shown that pesticides called neonicotinoids are highly toxic to honeybees and can even make them “more susceptible to parasites and viruses.” The persistence of this insecticide adds to its damaging effects as a single spray can get in as far as the roots and the water supply, which continuously poison pollinators.

With increasing public attention on saving bees, governments around the world have begun setting restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids. The most representative case is Massachusetts, which became the first state in the United States (U.S.) to categorize neonicotinoids as “restricted-use products” and set a goal to remove them from all retail store shelves starting this March. In response to similar regulations, apiarists who once used neonicotinoids have complained about the lack of alternative products that are as convenient as the current ones. However, bee farmers need to think beyond the price tag and consider the detrimental effects that neonicotinoids can have on the environment, and the government should encourage this by providing the proper incentives.

However, Professor Jung Chuleui (Plant Medicals, Andong National University) warns that the method of restricting certain pesticides may not necessarily be suitable for South Korea. This is because pesticide poisoning of domestic honeybees occurs from April to May, which is the blossoming season, and from July to August, or the rice pest control period. Thus, it would be more efficient to classify each type of pesticide based on season and set up a comprehensive management program that target specific plants, instead of entirely banning the use of specific pesticides. Professor Jung also emphasizes the importance of evaluating each pesticide’s toxicity and accurately labeling them before they are available for public use.

Local Bees Crying for Help

Korea is not exempt from the bee crisis. According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF), the number of beehives has drastically decreased from 420,000 in 2010 to between 30,000 and 100,000 as of 2020. It is predicted that local honeybees may be completely extinct by 2035 at this rate. The main culprit behind the sudden drop in the bee population is Sacbrood virus (SBV), a deadly virus that affects honeybee larvae, which prevailed in 2010 and killed 90 percent of native honeybees. Despite governmental measures such as seeding honey plants in the national forest, the bees still struggle to return to their normal state.

One critical flaw in Korea’s beekeeping industry is the poor living condition of honeybees. Professor Jung states that most bees are raised in extremely concentrated hives and highlights how “Korea has the highest density of beehives per unit area in the world.” He attributes this phenomenon to apiarists attempting to expand from honey production by targeting niche markets such as honeycomb and royal jelly, a honeybee secretion, both of which require bees to be tightly packed. However, such an environment makes bees more vulnerable to infectious diseases, which may bring about disastrous outcomes like the outbreak of SBV infection in 2010.

The first step to saving Korea’s honeybees is providing a healthier environment for them. Professor Jung explains that identifying honey plants that fit local characteristics and disseminating them accordingly is the most basic prerequisite. By doing so, honeybee territories would expand across the country, which would solve the underlying issue of the local beekeeping industry. He also emphasizes the need for citizens to recognize the importance of honeybees, in addition to beekeepers and specialized institutions, to create a society that aims to protect these animals altogether. At the same time, it is crucial for the government to set clear guidelines for nonprofessionals who wish to participate in beekeeping for the safety of the public.

Bees can be terrifying. At the same time, bees are incredibly important to the survival of wild animals and plants as well as the supply of many fruits, vegetables, and even the cotton that humans use every day. The continuous decline of the worldwide bee population is an urgent warning for people to start paying attention to these pint-sized insects. With the combined efforts of governments, research organizations, and regular citizens, the world can only pray to have its little busy workers back in stock.