THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BEES TO THE ECOSYSTEM
By Raphael Banda- Media Trainer
Most of us normally complain when we are stung by the
bees and feel good when the bee is found dead.
However, there is need for the change of mindset and focus
our energies towards protecting these insects as they contribute greatly to our
livelihood.
The extinction of the bees makes sad reading as they make
78% of the food that you and I eat every day. But how much efforts do we make
to protect bees from further extinction? Journalists whether from Private and
public media have a huge role to generate more content around preservation of
cardinal insects such as bees.
Some of the major dangers to the life of the bee are human
activities such as large changes in land use and industrialized agriculture
practices what involves the use of some herb and pesticides. The detrimental
use of pesticides has contributed to destroying habitant for bees and reducing
their available food sources.
Rising temperatures have led to climatic changes that lead
to flooding and droughts all affect the survival of bees’ ecosystems, reduces
their suitability to the environment and threaten their survival.
Journalists and all farmers as well as fruit lovers in
Zambia and elsewhere, ought to know that bees are one of the most efficient and
prevalent pollinators. Both bees and plants benefit from each other due to their
reciprocal relationship. The bees pollinate the plants from flower to flower,
thus, plants reproduce in exchange the bees also eat the pollen which is a critical
component of their diets.
Bees pollinate more than just flowers but also many of our favourite
fruits and vegetables that require the help of bees to pollinate them, and
these range from tomatoes, cucumbers, cotton, eggplants and other seeds.
As a journalism trainer, I call upon governments and
like-minded environmentally friendly organisations to come up with more training
for journalists on biodiversity and environmental journalism so that we prevent
the complete extinction of important insects such as bees.
We should all do our best to spread the important roles
which bees play in the ecological issue to avert possible extinction of the
bees as this is a humanitarian issue. Bees support our agricultural systems and
their extinction may lead to food crisis for all.
For details and possible media traings
Reach out: bandaraphael55@gmail.com
or Whatts App +260979208286
Very insightful
ReplyDelete