hidden europe 59

From Swarms and Stings to Slow Travel

by hidden europe

Summary

From Slovenia to Chile, from Malta to Turkey, bee-related tourism is suddenly in vogue. Honeyed travel opportunities aplenty as tourist boards and travellers realise that bees mean business.

Over the last 20 years, a phenomenon now recognised as colony collapse disorder (CCD) has led to a marked decline in the number of bees. There have been previous instances of bee populations being devastated in limited areas. One hundred years ago, scientists were pondering why almost the entire bee population of the Isle of Wight (off the south coast of England) had died within about a dozen years. English apiarists still talk of ‘Isle of Wight disease’ although no-one is really sure quite why so many bees died there. The current bout of CCD, reported in North America, Europe and more widely, is believed to be caused by widepread use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

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