As bees face the sting of urbanization and climate change, what can cities do for them?

“Everyone wants honey. But no one wants the bees near them,” says 34-year-old Pune city resident Amit Godse of Bee Basket, who runs a business extricating beehives from neighborhoods that don’t like them. Godse then relocates the beehives to wooded areas or farmlands bordering the city or sends them to beekeepers.

Bee Basket also sells sustainably harvested honey and other honey-based products, employing farmers and tribal communities and educating them on beekeeping.

Honey bees collect the nectar of flowers and store it in wax combs as a food source to feed immature larvae and adults during winter.

Apis cerana indica (Indian hive bee), Apis mellifera (European bee), and Melipona irridipennis (stingless bee) are honey bees found in India that can be domesticated in bee boxes. Apis dorsata (rock bee) and Apis florea (little bee) are wild honey bees. Bumblebees and carpenter bees are bee species that can also be found in India.

Globally, seventy five percent of food crops depend to some extent on animal pollinators, primarily insects and especially bees. Beekeeping facilitates pollination and increases crop yield, but wild pollinators also play a significant role in pollination.

In addition, bees help propagate biodiversity in cities and forests. Nearly ninety percent of wild flowering plants depend on animal pollinators for seed production. For instance, the Indian laburnum (Cassia fistula), a native tree that paints many cities yellow at the onset of summer, is pollinated by several species of carpenter bees.

However the abundance and diversity of wild pollinators across the world are falling due to human activities such as intensive agriculture, pesticide use, and climate change.

Bees are facing the consequences of urbanization, too.

K Lakshmi Rao, Assistant Director of the Central Bee Research and Training Institute, Pune, says, “Habitat loss and the lack of flowering trees in cities are huge issues. Sound, air, and light pollution also stress the bees.”

Rock bees, the most commonly found species in Indian cities, nest in buildings and arches instead of tall trees. And that brings the possibility of conflict with humans.

Godse believes that bees don’t bother humans unless provoked. He says that fear of bees due to lack of knowledge about them is the biggest threat to the species. 

People spray pesticides on hives or burn them. They think destroying it is the end of the issue. But losing bees is actually the beginning of it.

S Basavarajappa, associate professor and part of the apidologie lab that studies honey bees, their behavior, and ecology at the University of Mysore in Karnataka, India, says, “Glass buildings and packed concrete roads in cities trap the heat and increase the temperature altering its local climate. Bees can’t handle the heat beyond a point.” 

He has been studying the rock bee colonies in Mysore, a city in south India, for many years and observed a two percent decline in colonies every year, though reasons are yet to be identified.

Globally, various studies have linked climate change to potential population decline in bees. Another study describes how a mismatch between flowering time due to global warming and bees’ activity led to fitness losses in the insect.

But urban centers can do their bit to keep the buzz alive. A 2019 study across four British cities found that urban centers are a haven for pollinators as compared to neighboring farmlands, and a study in Bengaluru suggests that neighborhood parks in cities support biodiversity, including insects.

“People can plant native trees in their localities and keep plants of local fruits and vegetables and in their windows and balconies,” suggests Rao. She advises people to get trained in beekeeping from state-run institutes or other groups to learn more about them.

Godse promotes the idea of urban beekeeping and seeing native bees as pets. He believes that even in dense cities, houses with a balcony can keep bee boxes with stingless bees after they get trained. 

“The bees will collect nectar from trees within two-three kilometers radius and return to your house. You’ll have a hobby, and they’ll help in pollination.” 

Bee Basket has helped 35 houses in Pune to start beekeeping.

Basavarajappa says existing green spaces and trees need to be preserved and emphasizes that awareness programs amongst the local youth and in residential areas are critical to sensitizing them towards bees and adjusting their common perception from stinging pests to helpful allies.

At a time when bees are struggling to cope with challenges in urban areas, Godse says, “the best way to handle them is not to handle them at all.”

Here are six ways you can help pollinators thrive.