The painful bites and the insistent buzzing in the ear cause, generally, bees are not remembered in a friendly manner – despite Honey delights. And with a crucial caveat: honey is far from the great contribution of bees to mankind. without them, half of gondolas food supermarkets would be empty. Through pollination, these insects promote its greatest impact on biodiversity and food production: 35% of crops and 94% of wild plants depend on this activity. The bad news is that this, as it were, “ecological service” It is at risk before a baptized phenomenon of colony collapse disorder. Of 1940 until today, the number of bees decreased dramatically worldwide – US us, the country most affected by the problem, halved. It is still mysterious reason behind this disappearance, although there are strong chances. On Monday 22, UN plans to draw attention to the subject to disclosure, at an event in Malaysia, Pollinators the report, Pollination and Food Production. The document, the first fruit of the international body Intergovernmental Platform for Scientific Policy on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), seeks to identify, among other things, the reasons that led to the disorder that makes disappear the colonies and possible solutions.

51,92% – It was decreased as the number of hives, from 1940 until today, In the USA, the country most affected by the problem(Gilles Choen / SEE)

The work is the result of joint efforts of 75 researchers, from different countries. SEE had access to information in the document. It combines academic knowledge we have on bees and other pollinating animals (and other insects, birds and bats) and their contributions, It provides examples of best practices for the protection of species and proposes solutions to the adverse situation – as the adoption of environmental policies. “It is an extremely important political topic, since the disappearance of the colonies could adversely affect the economy, besides the citizens of diet, a country”, emphasizes the biologist Vera Lucia Fonseca, the Biosciences Institute at the University of São Paulo (USP) and director of IPBES, the UN body. “Before everything, the report seeks to raise awareness to all of the importance of pollinators, and to promote the union of governments to protect them”, full Vera.

It is no coincidence that the researcher makes reference potential economic damage disorder. It is estimated that a market 218 billion annually depends on the pollination services provided by bees. The United States, the world's largest agricultural exporter, lose 15 billions of dollars a year with the intensification of the problem – in Brazil, the loss would be 12 billion. This explains why, in June 2014, US President Barack Obama turned the alarm in a matter of State, by announcing the creation of a task force, composed of scientists and politicians, to go for answers.

Scholars are still investigating what the root of the problem. It is believed to be two main factors: the spread of pesticide use, that weaken the colonies, and the action of parasites, as the varroa, mite that attacks the animal's body, e o Acarapis Wood, that affects the respiratory system. However, there is consensus that there is only one reason (or two), but a sum which turned out to build a cruel scenario for insects. Bees are losing their habitat when forests and gardens give way to buildings or even planting a single crop – the species needs to survive varied diet. The intense climate change undergone by the Earth, as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases by man, also contribute to the disappearance of insects. Less defined seasons, beyond the highs and sudden drops in temperature and humidity, end up messing up the flowering cycle of flowers, which are dependent on honeybees.

The United States is seen as the country that is moving to combat rhythm disorder. The committee created by Obama last year presented the National Strategy Document to Promote Health of Bees and Other Pollinators. In him, It was established as a goal to reduce the low during the winter bees to a maximum 15% in ten years – today, the rate is 23%. In the last decades, after winter, the colonies have not been able to recover such loss of periods. If the reduction of the colonies is less in cold seasons, the expected effect is that they are able to restore the spring and summer. It also plans to increase the presence of other pollinators, as the monarch butterfly. The US government estimates that there are currently 30 million copies of this colorful species in North America, before 970 million that existed in 1996. What is expected is to reverse the decline, reaching at least the number of 225 millions. Among the strategies to protect pollinators are, for example, the restoration of 28 000 square kilometers (equivalent to the area of ​​Hawaii) their habitats over the next five years.

On the western side of the Northern Hemisphere has been more adversely affected than the rest of the planet? The reason is the dependence on US and European plantations of only one type of bee, a Apis mellifera. Imported from Africa and Asia for pollination of commercial crops, the species has gained the preference of beekeepers for not being aggressive and keep huge colonies and resistant. Now, however, she is the biggest victim of fearful disorder.

In France, for example, 100 000 Apis mellifera colonies have been lost since 1995, and mortality of bees tripled. Therefore, Paris is one of the cities that have most adopted conservation measures. In June last year, the municipality signed the protocol Bee: Sentinel of the Environment. In him, the French capital has pledged to ban the sale of a number of pesticides, in addition to expanding support for beekeeping. Up until 2020, plans to planting 20 000 trees in Parisian gardens, Besides 300 000 new square meters of green spaces – around a fifth of the size of the Ibirapuera Park, in Sao Paulo. Paris is still the urban center with the largest presence of breeding bees in Europe, a total of 600, occupying an area of 4,6 square kilometers – of them installed in ceilings of buildings and houses.

There is evidence that reduction in the number of bees is replaying, apace, elsewhere, including poor countries. However, often the data collected are not sufficient to support the thesis. This is the case of Brazil, that does not have a history of the number of bees in Portugal, so that researchers do not have to compare the current number to the previous. Like this, They are unsure whether the reduction is alarming here. “But there are signs that also suffer from the same problem”, says the biologist Tereza Cristina Giannini, the Vale Technology Institute Sustainable Development. “In field research, We found that there are regions where crops have pollination deficit, reflected in low production of fruits, flowers and food”, reports Tereza.

In support of Brazil, Yet, weighing in a point that leaves the lead at the disorder. The country is not dependent on only one species, as with the United States and Europe. A journal of research Apidologie, specialized in beekeeping, estimated that there are at least 250 types of pollinators in all of Brazil, of which 87% are bees.

Why, then, around the world, despite the essentiality of these insects for the balance of the environment, the protection campaigns they do not get as much attention as those designed to polar bears or the African elephant, for example? SEE explained the American biologist Heather Mattila, do Wellesley College: “The mode of functioning of our sense of empathy is at the heart of this dilemma. We are close to us like animals, large mammals that live in groups and interact socially. We should, however, look right for bees. They work hard to feed their young, organized in colonies and to care about the health and safety of their homes. It should not be so difficult for man to identify with these elements”. O. K., the empathy factor not work with bees, remember then as they are key to ensuring the existence of much of the food arriving at our table. thereabouts, an annoying buzz is nothing.

Source: http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/ciencia/por-que-salvar-as-abelhas