Does Urban Beekeeping Live Up to the Buzz?
A honey bee in Toronto. Photo by Shawn Caza.
Andrew Vanderleek, Volunteer Content Contributor
In our contemporary situation of climate change and biodiversity loss, more and more people are looking for ways to be more sustainable. Pro-environmental behaviours allow people to build an identity and act in line with their ecological values. One activity often considered pro-environmental is urban beekeeping – the act of managing European honey bee (Apis mellifera) hives in towns and cities. The practice has seen a recent uptick in popularity, but its reputation of sustainability may be somewhat misplaced. With the rapid rise of urban beekeeping globally, it is important to consider all the relevant pros and cons.
Current Trends
As mentioned, the practice of urban beekeeping is becoming more popular worldwide. From Paris to Osaka, New York to Sydney, there has been an increase in many cities over the past decade. The same trend is found in Canada, from coast to coast. Why the recent spike in urban beekeeping? In the mid-2000s, there was a sudden wave of media attention on a terrible new honey bee “disease”: Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Although technically not a single disorder but a combination of factors, CCD led to mass colony loss in hives across the United States, and it garnered a lot of public attention. The idea that honey bees were dying out influenced many new beekeepers to pick up urban beekeeping. People started to keep honey bees, not just for agricultural or commercial purposes, but to help the environment. The idea of “saving the bees” is still a strong motivator for beekeeping today, with many people seeing it as a “virtuous hobby” and “an ecologically inspired urban lifestyle phenomenon.”
What’s the Catch?
Despite its reputation, however, urban beekeeping does have its downsides. The European honey bee is native to parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa, so they are an introduced species to North America. Long before the honey bee was introduced by colonists to North America, native flora was pollinated by native pollinators – a collection of flies, butterflies, birds, moths, and other bees (like mason bees and bumble bees). In the present day, native pollinator populations are declining due to a combination of decreasing habitat, increased pathogens, and climate change. Without them, we risk threats to native floral diversity, agricultural systems, and global food networks. Fortunately, urban areas can actually provide a good habitat for many kinds of native pollinators. Unfortunately, the rise in urban beekeeping is increasing competition among species and introducing parasites and diseases to native pollinators. Honey bees can also favour non-native floral species over native ones, leading to a loss in local flora as well.
The Upside
That all being said, there are also many advantages to urban beekeeping. First, there are social benefits, which help people and communities. For instance, urban beekeeping:
Inspires local meetups, online communities, and events
Benefits mental and physical health by working in and with nature
Provides opportunities for education about the climate, biodiversity loss, and pollution
Is a potential source of income for individuals who sell honey and wax products. This can also boost local economies.
Other advantages of urban beekeeping are the spill-over conservation benefits. In other words, making cities a better habitat for the honey bee can also make them a better habitat for native pollinators. Urban beekeepers looking to help their own bees may inadvertently help native pollinators by:
Planting or tolerating native flora
Turning lawns into pollinator-friendly gardens
Pushing for environmental policies in cities, such as increased regulation of pollutants and pesticides
So, Is Urban Beekeeping Good or Bad?
In conclusion, it’s complicated. The purpose of this blog is not to condemn urban beekeeping, only to explain how the practice is more complex than some people think. That being said, there are some recommendations on how to make the practice more sustainable – this would involve regulation, research, and education.
Regulation: Implementing policies to regulate the number of beekeepers, the density of hives, and hive locations. Policies can also work towards making urban spaces better habitats for native pollinators.
Research: Although much research has been done so far, the interactions between managed honey bees and native pollinators are not completely understood. Further research could help fill these gaps in knowledge.
Education: Finally, the general public should be informed about the pros and cons so that they can make an informed decision on whether to start beekeeping – especially if they are doing it to be pro-environmental.
In my research, I have found that some Canadian cities and provinces are doing well with meeting these three goals, while others are not. For the urban individual, the best thing you can do is help native pollinators as much as possible. Some good practices include:
Planting native flora to which local pollinators are adapted
Turning “tidy” monocultural lawns into pollinator-friendly gardens
Providing diverse niches to native pollinators. Some bees live up in trees, others prefer to burrow in sand or dead wood.
The practice of urban beekeeping is becoming more popular worldwide, and many people hold onto the idea of beekeeping as a completely environmental practice, despite some ecological downsides. Still, many social and conservation benefits would be lost if urban beekeeping were completely prohibited. Overall, a shift in focus from the European honey bee to local wild pollinator species would help save their populations from decline and maintain our country’s biodiversity.
A wild monarch pollinating in a rooftop garden space. Photo by Natalia Jones on Unsplash
References
DiDonato, S., & Gareau, B. J. (2022). Be(e)coming pollinators: Beekeeping and perceptions of environmentalism in Massachusetts. PLoS ONE, 17(3), 1–31. Academic Search Elite. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263281
Egerer, M., & Kowarik, I. (2020). Confronting the Modern Gordian Knot of Urban Beekeeping. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 35(11), 956–959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.07.012
Gatersleben, B., Murtagh, N., & Abrahamse, W. (2014). Values, identity and pro-environmental behaviour. Contemporary Social Science, 9(4), 374–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2012.682086
Kluser, S., & Peduzzi, P. (2007). Global pollinator decline: A literature review.
Matsuzawa, T., & Kohsaka, R. (2021). Status and Trends of Urban Beekeeping Regulations: A Global Review. Earth, 2(4), 933–942. https://doi.org/10.3390/earth2040054
