Can cities be a refuge for bees?

What began as a hobby for bees little by little became a passion, to the point of considering a way to live and work with these insects as a professional option. How did the idea of ​​creating a beekeeping company come about? What began as a hobby for bees little by little became a passion, to the point of considering a way to live and work with these insects as a professional option. After the own experience with bees, courses and training days, knowing the apicultural sector of our country and discovering the urban apiculture in the main cities of the world, I decided to carry out my own project and alternative to the traditional apiculture farms. Mel·lis proposes an alternative apiculture to the extensive exploitations. Why? Nowadays, for a conventional beekeeping operation to be minimally viable, it requires about 300-350 bee hives; the majority of professional farms in our country range between 350 and 600. The viability basically lies in the production of honey. To more kilos of honey, more benefits, which in many cases has turned beekeeping into a business of intensive and industrialized production of honey, with aggressive work systems for bees, obtaining products of dubious quality and at the same time, very dependent on climatological factors, blooms, subsidies, etc. Luckily, we are more and more beekeepers who work to return to beekeeping more sustainable and respectful with bees. What would be the main characteristics of the alternative model that you propose? The philosophy of the project is far from the massive production of honey. The main characteristic is to give value to the benefits offered by bees and the beekeeper's trade. A beekeeper, like any bee, must also be valued for his work and not just for the kilograms of honey he is able to obtain. The mission of the company is to offer specialized and professional beekeeping services to satisfy any need related to bees and beekeeping. Of the contributions that bees make to ecosystems and humans, what would you highlight? According to Albert Einstein, "If bees disappeared from the surface of the Earth, men would only have four years to live." This forecast tells us about the vital contribution made by bees in our ecosystem: its pollinating function. Keep in mind that more than a third of the food we consume is pollinated by bees, as well as many other types of wild plants or crops. Is the breeding of bees compatible with the activity of the cities? Yes, it is not necessary to look much to find many examples of bees in major cities around the world such as Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Brussels , among many others. Without going so far, the Castell dels Tres Dragons of the Ciutadella Park in Barcelona, ​​the current Museum of Natural Sciences, there is an apiary since 1945, of which we are currently responsible for maintenance. What are the benefits of beekeeping in the urban environment? Improve biodiversity thanks to the pollination function, the use as a training tool in environmental education, the installation of hives in situ to obtain honey km 0, a distinctive and differential feature, the expansion of the range of services, the use as bioindicators of environmental pollution ... These are just some of the new possibilities and business opportunities that bees and beekeeping provide us. What kind of clients do you have? Could you give us some examples of installations that are already in operation? We have clients from different areas and sectors, from public administration such as the city of Barcelona or Viladecans to entities such as the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona. We also work for catering companies and in the training field we carry out workshops and workshops in different schools and collectives. Until recently there were legal obstacles to develop this activity. What has changed to make it possible now? And how has this change been achieved? Until March 2014, due to incompatibility with the Spanish regulations that regulate the beekeeping sector (RD 209/2002), it was impossible to install bees in the cities, since a premise of this regulation determines that from the place where a box is installed. bees, the minimum distance to a population center should be 400 meters. The Generalitat of Catalonia, after grasping the needs expressed by the world of urban beekeeping, in March 2014 approved the new decree of livestock farms (Decret 40/2014) and in article 5 the door was opened to install bee hives in urban areas, as long as there is a permit from the town hall and a favorable report from the Registration Commission of the Department of Agriculture of the Generalitat. As a company, it seeks economic profitability, but also has a didactic will. How is pedagogy done around bees? I guess you have to break some topics. True, there are many wrong topics that must be deleted. What we most detect is a great confusion when it comes to differentiating a bee from a wasp and ignorance of the properties and characteristics of the main products that we obtain from bees (honey, pollen, propolis). I say this because not all honey is honey. In many cases the honeys that can be found in supermarkets are the result of mixtures of different types of honey of dubious quality and origin from different countries, inside and outside the European Union. And therefore, subjected to a different degree of food control and where industrial processes have been applied that cause the loss of all beneficial properties for our body. There is a lot of pedagogy and dissemination of information about the world of bees, beekeeping and the products that we obtain; We are convinced that urban beekeeping can help a lot in this task, since in cities it is where most of the population is concentrated. The workshops for schools are a good tool to do pedagogy in this sense. While it is very rewarding on a personal level, we believe it will be beneficial for bees and for long-term beekeeping. We are making known the vital importance of bees, as well as the products and benefits that we obtain with the intention of obtaining responsible and knowledgeable future consumers of the natural products of the hive. Numerous articles have been published - both in the general and specialized press - about massive bee deaths since a long time ago. Could you explain this phenomenon to us? There is not a single factor causing this situation but it is given by the sum of different factors. The United States is one of the countries where, between 2006 and 2007, alerted about this massive death of bees, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) or disappearance of bees. Some beekeepers found more than 50-60% of casualties. The problem is that there they bet on large areas of monoculture almond trees in the area of ​​California that need thousands of beehives for pollination. The majority of beekeepers from all over the country have to go to pollinate these almond plantations, traveling thousands of kilometers, to make their exploitation profitable. This supposes a great stress for the bees, a food not varied and normally contaminated by phytosanitary products, in addition to diseases and other well-known problems, such as varroa. Is the extinction of bees a possible scenario? In a world where economic interests predominate over environmental criteria, unfortunately everything is possible. Concerned about this horizon, Mel·lis was forged with the conviction that bees and beekeeping in cities can help very positively to the protection and conservation of these insects. Cities can be a refuge for bees due to the absence of pesticides, offer them a more varied and regular diet throughout the year, as well as being able to educate and raise awareness of their problems in the vast majority of the population, concentrated in large cities . Ecoportal.net Ecoticias http://www.ecoticias.com If you find this note interesting, do not hesitate to share it. Your contacts will be grateful. Here you can also subscribe to our weekly and FREE electronic publication To subscribe to our Weekly News Publication, place your e-mail below These articles may also interest you