The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has released the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators on May 19, following reports of massive decrease in the population of honey bees.
The U.S. government is now making its move to protect the pollinators that enhance crops and other resources in the country.
Honey bee colonies declined by approximately 42.1 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to the survey results reviewed by the U.S. beekeepers from the Department of Agriculture. The loss of bee species can be noted in other parts of the world, as Europe is also facing possible extinction of 9.2 percent of the 2,000 bee species in the continent.
Scientists attribute three primary reasons why bee populations continuously decline: exposure to pesticides, lack of conducive habitat, and contamination to varroa mites.
"The big point is there's a whole lot of factors that are contributing to it," says Keith Delaplane, director of the University of Georgia Honey Bee Program. "Part of the work has been trying to untangle that knot."
The three main objectives of the new national plan according to the official 64-page paper issued by the White House aim to limit the deficit in honey bee colonies to 15 percent or less in the next decade, boost the number of Eastern monarch butterflies habitants by approximately 225 million in the next 10 years and provide an improved and vast land space measuring about 7 million acres to pollinators after five years.
The new rule involves the development of interim land zones, where pesticides cannot be used. This pesticide-free areas will only be put up when particular plants are flourishing around bees under the care of the U.S. beekeepers. The restriction of pesticides would only be practiced in the specific areas where bees are assigned to pollinate.
The federal rule shall take effect for almost all insecticide products including neonicotinoids, which are highly controversial, says Jim Jones, assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The main concept is "to create greater space between chemicals that are toxic to bees and the bees," said Jones. The federal rule only responds to the pesticide problems of the bees; however, the government is said to have created a plan that aims to provide wide-range of food items for the bees.
Government plans to help save bees are due to the fact that these insects are essential to the food supply chain of the world. Approximately $15 billion worth of crops are brought about by bees in the U.S. annually.
Records from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in 2005 reveal that 146 countries rely on 90 percent of the world's 100 crops for food. Out of this number, 71 percent are made available to humans through the pollination of bees.
Photo: Steve Jurvetson | Flickr
