蜜蜂濒临死亡，我们能做些什么呢?

蜜蜂濒临死亡，我们能做些什么呢?

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

也许你可以忍受生活在一个没有蜂蜜的世界里。但你能忍受没有杏仁、梨、牛油果、葡萄和葡萄酒吗?

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

大多数植物依赖于蜜蜂和其他自然授粉者来生产一些自然界中最有营养和最受喜爱的食物。

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.

但由于杀虫剂的广泛使用、气候变化、外来害虫、疾病的出现以及栖息地的丧失，传粉者这个包括鸟类和蝙蝠等昆虫和动物在内的多样化群体正面临威胁。根据英国养蜂人协会的数据，2015年4月至2016年4月，美国养蜂人损失了44%的蜂群，而在英国，养蜂人报告的损失接近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.

如果你是养蜂人、农民或消费者，如果蜜蜂消失了，你就会失去一些东西，而这对它们的生存至关重要。

Beekeepers

养蜂人

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

十二年前，戴尔·吉布森来到他的城市蜜蜂农场。

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

在他位于伦敦伯蒙西的家的屋顶上，有8个蜂箱，里面有大约20万只蜜蜂。

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.

根据伦敦养蜂协会的数据，2015年大伦敦地区共有2259个养蜂场和3699个蜂群。由于许多养蜂人选择不登记，协会认为这个数字甚至更大。

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

尽管城市养蜂业正在兴起，但英国各地的养蜂人发现，在一个需要廉价蜂蜜的市场上，竞争变得更加困难。

Farmers

农民

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

自然授粉者的稀缺迫使农民们手工授粉。

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.

他们用看起来像鸡毛掸子的刷子，在每朵花上沉积一些花粉，以使他们的作物有最好的机会长出果实。蜜蜂和其他传粉者，在这个地区是罕见的，因为农民广泛使用化学农药喷洒他们的作物。

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.

在美国，自然授粉者在农业领域并不像人们想象的那样常见。根据季节的不同，蜜蜂被卡车运到从佛罗里达到加利福尼亚3000英里远的地方，帮助农民为农作物授粉。

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.

加州对蜜蜂的需求导致杏仁和牛油果等受欢迎的农作物价格上涨，因为它们几乎完全依赖蜜蜂授粉。

Consumers

消费者

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.

很难想象，像蜜蜂这样又小又不起眼的动物，能成为我们提供食物的最大盟友，但我们吃的所有食物中，约有三分之一是它们辛勤劳动的直接结果。

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.

据联合国粮农组织估计，仅在欧洲，264种作物中就有84%是靠动物授粉的，4000种蔬菜品种是靠蜜蜂授粉的。

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.

在英国雷丁大学进行的一项研究中，研究人员发现，蜜蜂每年为英国经济贡献6.51亿英镑(合8.05亿美元)，而根据美国养蜂联合会的数据，蜜蜂为美国农作物产值贡献超过140亿美元。

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

那么你能做些什么来帮助蜜蜂呢?它可以像在你的花园里种植草本植物、野花、灌木和果树一样简单。

"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."

吉布森说:“对于城市居民来说，在窗台上种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错的选择，它们不需要太多空间，而且能为人类和蜜蜂提供食物。

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

吉布森还建议从当地养蜂人那里购买蜂蜜，而不是从大多数超市生产的工业蜂蜜。