In Brazil, half a billion bees died in just 3 months
Environment — di Lorenzo Brenna
The severe die-off that has struck bees across four Brazilian states appears to be caused by the growing use of pesticides.
In Brazil, half a billion bees died in just 3 months
The severe die-off that has struck bees across four Brazilian states appears to be caused by the growing use of pesticides.
Brazil does not "only" have to contend with the vast fires that are reducing hundreds of hectares of Amazon rainforest to ash and with growing deforestation, which could soon transform the planet's largest rainforest into an arid savanna. Between December 2018 and February 2019, over 500 million bees (Apis mellifera) were found dead by beekeepers across four Brazilian states. This was reported by an investigation carried out by two investigative journalism agencies, Agência Pública and Repórter Brasil. With around 400 million dead bees, the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's leading honey producer, was the worst affected, followed by the state of Santa Catarina, the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and the state of São Paulo.
Why the bees died
The speed with which entire bee colonies died initially pointed to colony collapse disorder (CCD), a phenomenon not yet fully understood that has caused the death of millions of insects across the United States and Europe since 2006. The symptoms, however, are different, and the cause appears to be just one: pesticides.
In the majority of the dead bees, traces of Fipronil were found — an insecticide considered "moderately toxic to humans" by the World Health Organization (WHO), classified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Group C carcinogen, and banned in the European Union specifically to counter the die-off of pollinating insects.
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Fipronil and neonicotinoids
The main cause of bee deaths in Brazil, according to experts and laboratory analyses, would therefore be the use of pesticides such as Fipronil and neonicotinoids. In April 2018, the latter were banned by the European Union to reverse the decline of bees: they can no longer be used outdoors, but only in greenhouses.
Brazil poisoned by pesticides
Brazil, where agriculture plays a very important role in the national economy, is one of the countries in the world where pesticide use is most intensive. From 1990 to 2016, according to the FAO, pesticide consumption in the South American country increased by 770 per cent. This trend has worsened further since President Jair Bolsonaro took office.
Since last January, Bolsonaro has decided to grant commercial authorisations for nearly three hundred new pesticides, previously banned owing to the risks they pose to the environment and to health, and he appears intent on further relaxing safety standards, putting not only biodiversity but also people's health at risk.
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We have been poisoned
"The death of all these bees is a sign that we have been poisoned," declared Carlos Alberto Bastos, president of the Beekeepers' Association of the Federal District of Brazil. Even now the effects of pesticides on the population are evident: every year there are around 100,000 cases of poisoning, and this trend can only increase, just as, from 2020 onwards, the number of dead bees is set to rise. The new pesticides and pest-control products approved by the new president, based on sulfoxaflor — known to be highly toxic to pollinating animals — will in fact be used on crops such as cotton, tomatoes, wheat, beans, melon, watermelon, soya and citrus fruits starting from October.
What happens if bees disappear
Bees, as we know, are fundamental to food security as they provide pollination for over two thirds of the crops used for human nutrition. In Brazil, according to the Brazilian Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Bpbes), around 60 per cent of the 141 crops grown for human and animal consumption depend in part on bee pollination. The harmful effects of their decline are not limited to agriculture, however: it is not only the bees that we have been exploiting for millennia to produce honey that exist, but thousands of species. These species, which are estimated to number around 20,000 (over 300 of which are endemic to Brazil), are fundamental to the survival of their respective ecosystems, from tropical forests to mountain meadows, helping plants to expand their range and to reproduce.