UK Government Pressed to Look into Decline of Honeybees

The UK Government has now been urged to take action to reduce the rate at which honeybee colonies are being lost. A report from the Commons committee of public accounts said that it calls for all beekeepers to register themselves so that they can be subjected to regular inspection. However, some think that the decline in honeybees could be a direct result from the change in climate, which is one reason why the UK has been trying to reduce its carbon emissions.

The pollination by bees is said to be worth more than £200 million each year to the British economy, meaning that honeybees may be worth more to the UK than some people think. MPs now call for greater transparency over how much the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs funding has been raising for research into the causes of the decline off the honeybee numbers.

A movement to make sure that all beekeepers are registered to a national database would also help the government come up with better information on the incidence of bee disease and enable more effective advice on bee husbandry.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that it has also seen similar problems with the number of disease in livestock. Committee chair Edward Leigh says that the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been dragging its feet on agreeing with farming industry over what the minimum standards of bio-security should be. The MP says that although cattle and honeybees are very different, the challenges that are facing the department in halting the rising number of cases of disease is very similar.