Archive for June 2008
Global scourge clips wings of Lebanon’s beekeepers
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Crucial links in food chain are dying in record numbers
By Esther Krenz Muller
Special to The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Many people think of bees as just another flying pest, but they are essential to modern civilization’s ability to feed itself – and they are dying in unsettling numbers.
“Since 2005, Lebanon’s estimated 10,000 beekeepers have lost roughly one quarter of their 4 billion bees,” Wadih Yazbek, manager of Yazbek Honey Est., told The Daily Star.
Billions more are disappearing all over the world, and researchers are scrambling to find answers. American beekeepers have been hardest hit, with one fourth reporting losses between 50 and 90 percent.
Honeybees, known for their famous figure-eight dance that conveys the location of food to other bees, have been sweetening our lives for thousands of years. Bees are intelligent, social insects used commercially to pollinate 100 major crops worldwide – that adds up to one third of humanity’s food supply, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Read the rest of this entry »
