If ever you needed proof that the current system is broken take a look at these recent comments from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reporting on the spread of the global collapse of honey bee populations….
The report warns that a number of factors may now be coming together to hit bee colonies around the world, ranging from declines in flowering plants and the use of damaging insecticides, to the worldwide spread of pests and air pollution. They call for farmers and landowners to be offered incentives to restore pollinator-friendly habitats, including key flowering plants near crop-producing fields and stress that more care needs to be taken in the choice, timing and application of insecticides and other chemicals.
“The way humanity manages or mismanages its nature-based assets, including pollinators, will in part define our collective future in the 21st century,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director.
“The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.
“Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature.
“Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to seven billion people.”
So, to summarise….nearly 70% of the worlds food crops are at serious risk from non-pollination due to bee population collapse, primarily as a result of pollution.
No point mentioning chronic fresh water shortages in many parts of the world or the spiralling cost of fuels that are already making farming increasingly more challenging.
Worried yet?