蜜蜂瀕臨死亡，我們能做些什么呢?

蜜蜂瀕臨死亡，我們能做些什么呢?

Maybe you could stand to live in a world without honey. But what about almonds, pears, avocados, grapes and -- dare we say -- wine?

也許你可以忍受生活在一個沒有蜂蜜的世界里。但你能忍受沒有杏仁、梨、牛油果、葡萄和葡萄酒嗎?

Most plants rely on bees and other natural pollinators to produce some of nature's most nutritious and beloved foods.

大多數(shù)植物依賴于蜜蜂和其他自然授粉者來生產(chǎn)一些自然界中最有營養(yǎng)和最受喜愛的食物。

But pollinators, a diverse group that includes insects and animals such as birds and bats, are under threat because of widespread pesticide use, climate change, the emergence of foreign pests, diseases and habitat loss. Between April 2015 and April 2016, beekeepers in the United States lost 44 percent of their colonies and in the UK, beekeepers reported losses of almost 17 percent, according to the British Beekeepers Association.

但由于殺蟲劑的廣泛使用、氣候變化、外來害蟲、疾病的出現(xiàn)以及棲息地的喪失，傳粉者這個包括鳥類和蝙蝠等昆蟲和動物在內(nèi)的多樣化群體正面臨威脅。根據(jù)英國養(yǎng)蜂人協(xié)會的數(shù)據(jù)，2015年4月至2016年4月，美國養(yǎng)蜂人損失了44%的蜂群，而在英國，養(yǎng)蜂人報告的損失接近17%。

If you're a beekeeper, farmer or consumer you have something to lose if bees disappear -- and a significant role to play in their survival.

如果你是養(yǎng)蜂人、農(nóng)民或消費者，如果蜜蜂消失了，你就會失去一些東西，而這對它們的生存至關(guān)重要。

Beekeepers

養(yǎng)蜂人

Twelve years ago, Dale Gibson came to his urban bee farm.

十二年前，戴爾·吉布森來到他的城市蜜蜂農(nóng)場。

On the roof of his home in Bermondsey, London, eight beehives house about 200,000 bees.

在他位于倫敦伯蒙西的家的屋頂上，有8個蜂箱，里面有大約20萬只蜜蜂。

According to London Beekeeping Association, there were 2,259 apiaries and 3,699 colonies registered in the Greater London area in 2015. With many beekeepers choosing not to register, the association believes the number is even greater.

根據(jù)倫敦養(yǎng)蜂協(xié)會的數(shù)據(jù)，2015年大倫敦地區(qū)共有2259個養(yǎng)蜂場和3699個蜂群。由于許多養(yǎng)蜂人選擇不登記，協(xié)會認為這個數(shù)字甚至更大。

Though urban beekeeping is on the rise, beekeepers across the UK are finding it harder to compete in a market that demands cheap honey.

盡管城市養(yǎng)蜂業(yè)正在興起，但英國各地的養(yǎng)蜂人發(fā)現(xiàn)，在一個需要廉價蜂蜜的市場上，競爭變得更加困難。

Farmers

農(nóng)民

The scarcity of natural pollinators is forcing farmers to hand-pollinate their crops.

自然授粉者的稀缺迫使農(nóng)民們手工授粉。

Using brushes that look like feather dusters, they deposit bits of pollen on each flower, to give their crops the best chance at sprouting fruit. Bees and other pollinators, are rare in this area due to widespread use of chemical pesticides that farmers use to spray their crops.

他們用看起來像雞毛撣子的刷子，在每朵花上沉積一些花粉，以使他們的作物有最好的機會長出果實。蜜蜂和其他傳粉者，在這個地區(qū)是罕見的，因為農(nóng)民廣泛使用化學(xué)農(nóng)藥噴灑他們的作物。

In the US, natural pollinators are not as common to the agricultural landscape as one might think. Depending on the season, bees are trucked as far as 3,000 miles from Florida to California to help farmers pollinate crops.

在美國，自然授粉者在農(nóng)業(yè)領(lǐng)域并不像人們想象的那樣常見。根據(jù)季節(jié)的不同，蜜蜂被卡車運到從佛羅里達到加利福尼亞3000英里遠的地方，幫助農(nóng)民為農(nóng)作物授粉。

The demand for bees in California leads to price increases for popular crops like almonds and avocados, as they rely almost entirely on bees for pollination.

加州對蜜蜂的需求導(dǎo)致杏仁和牛油果等受歡迎的農(nóng)作物價格上漲，因為它們幾乎完全依賴蜜蜂授粉。

Consumers

消費者

It's hard to imagine that an animal as small and inconspicuous as a bee, could be our greatest ally in providing food, but approximately one third of everything we eat is a direct result of their hard work.

很難想象，像蜜蜂這樣又小又不起眼的動物，能成為我們提供食物的最大盟友，但我們吃的所有食物中，約有三分之一是它們辛勤勞動的直接結(jié)果。

The FAO estimates that in Europe alone, 84 percent of the 264 crop species are animal pollinated and 4,000 vegetable varieties exist thanks to pollination by bees.

據(jù)聯(lián)合國糧農(nóng)組織估計，僅在歐洲，264種作物中就有84%是靠動物授粉的，4000種蔬菜品種是靠蜜蜂授粉的。

In a study conducted by the University of Reading, in the UK, researchers found that bees contribute £651 million ($805 million) to the UK economy a year, and according to the American Beekeeping Federation, honey bees contributeover $14 billion to the value of US crop production.

在英國雷丁大學(xué)進行的一項研究中，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，蜜蜂每年為英國經(jīng)濟貢獻6.51億英鎊(合8.05億美元)，而根據(jù)美國養(yǎng)蜂聯(lián)合會的數(shù)據(jù)，蜜蜂為美國農(nóng)作物產(chǎn)值貢獻超過140億美元。

So what can you do to help bees? It can be as easy as planting herbs, wildflowers, bushes and fruit trees in your garden.

那么你能做些什么來幫助蜜蜂呢?它可以像在你的花園里種植草本植物、野花、灌木和果樹一樣簡單。

"For city dwellers, herbs are a great thing to have growing on your window sill," Gibson says. "Rosemary, lavender, thyme, and chives are great options that require little space and provide produce for humans and bees."

吉布森說:“對于城市居民來說，在窗臺上種植草本植物是一件很棒的事情。”迷迭香、熏衣草、百里香和韭菜都是不錯的選擇，它們不需要太多空間，而且能為人類和蜜蜂提供食物。

Gibson also suggests buying honey from local beekeepers instead of the industrial honey produced for most supermarkets.

吉布森還建議從當?shù)仞B(yǎng)蜂人那里購買蜂蜜，而不是從大多數(shù)超市生產(chǎn)的工業(yè)蜂蜜。