More
than half a billion bees have died in Brazil in just three months, according
to Bloomberg. Scientists say the key reason of death is
pesticides, which could end up effecting more than the bees. As some of the
most essential pollinators in nature, bees contribute to the reproduction of numerous
plants. Around 75% of the world's crops rely on pollination by bees, the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) accounts.
FAO
has cautioned about the significance of protecting bees to guarantee food
security. With 500 million dead in Brazil, the future of food has come into
question. The mass deaths of bees were informed by beekeepers in four Brazilian
states. In Rio Grande do Sul alone, 400 million deceased bees were discovered. Aldo
Machado, vice president of Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul beekeeping association,
told Bloomberg his colony was destroyed in less than 48 hours after some of the
bees first displayed signs of illness.
“As
soon as the healthy bees began clearing the dying bees out of the hives, they became
contaminated. They started dying en masse,” Machado said.
Lab
research points to pesticides with neonicotinoids and fipronil — which are
banned in Europe — as the main reason of death for most bees in Brazil. The use
of these bee-killing pesticides increased under former President Michel Temer
and present President Jair Bolsonaro, according to Greenpeace's Unearthed. In just three years,
193 weedkillers and pesticides made up of chemicals banned in the European
Union were leegalized in Brazil, the unearthed enquiry revealed. Brazil has
become the largest buyer of pesticides in the world.
While
the mass deaths of bees in Brazil happened this year, the link between
pesticides and the decrease of bee populations has long been studied. A 2014
studied from Harvard University discovered pesticides play an important role in
massacre off the honey bee population in the U.S.
Colony
collapse disorder (CCD) has been affecting the U.S. bee population since 2006.
The illness causes bees to vanish from their hives. While the root cause of CCD
is an unknown, many specialists believe a combination of factors, comprising
pesticides, are the driving force — particularly neonicotinoid pesticides.
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