B.E.E. Heroes
What Others' are doing
Who is trying to address the issue or problem at the community level?
One way you can help the bees at a local level in learning how to keep, and raise a colony in your own back yard. If you are unwilling or can’t live with bee’s, another option is planting a bee garden, which can provide for local pollinators for a long time.
Other ideas for beekeepers include the following:
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Do not combine collapsing colonies with healthy colonies
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Do not reuse abandoned hive equipment, especially if the cause of bee death is suspicious
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Use an integrated pest management (IPM) approach for varroa control to minimize toxic exposure to the honey bees
What can you do in your community?
It's a lot to ask the averge citizen to start up their own bee hive. Just to start a smaller colony, it is about $500. The chance of an amateur apiarist properly keeping up the bees responsiblily is rather low. The hives have to be maintained on a regular basis, and if they aren't, unattended hives could support bacteria growth and mites which could affect the bee population in your neighborhood. There are a few achievable ways for the civilans to help low the precentage of bees dying from CCD.
The achievable ways we have listed for the community
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mow only in places that are needed.
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grow bee friendly plant in your yard.
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encourge the peoplle to to eencourge the local goverments to
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encourage nurseries to sell more bee friendy plants?
How about at the government level in the countries you are researching?
Many governments have been searching for the cause or causes of the decline in bee colony collapse. Places like Europe have banned the use of the bad pesticides, whereas here in the U.S. the government is not doing as much for the bees. At the University of Maryland, additional research on how multiple pesticides are affecting bee health is in progress.
In 2014, the Department of Agriculture announced that it will spend $3 milllion dollars to provide food for honeybees by improving habitat and food supply in 5 midwestern states. Farmers and ranchers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Michigan can reseed their pastures with alfalfa and clover for the bees. The goal is to improve the quality of food for insect and animals by also moving their animals pasture to pasture. The agency has partnered with universities to study bee colony decline and focus on the 5 states because 65% of the nations commercial beekeepers bring hives there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/25/honeybees-usda_n_485243.html
Are there groups or individuals working to address the issue across borders?
One example of groups addressing the bee colony collapse across borders would be how the European Commission has set up a support group for Ukraine. The support group will provide guidance and structure as well as offer expertise. "The European Commission is determined to help Ukraine for the long term.", said President Barroso. "The Commission has already proposed an overall support package worth of at least 11 billion over the next couple of years and some ofthe these measures are already being rolled out. The political chapters of the Association Agreement have been signed, sealing the free and democratic choice of Ukraine to be closely associated with the European Union."