The city beekeeping increase is hurting wild pollinator species

The latest world development for city apiary quantities to "bee-washing" that detracts from efforts to reverse the decline in wild pollinators, argues Graham Lawton

DD57G8 Elena Polisano keeps a hive of honey bees on the roof of the Three Stags pub in Lambeth in London

Glyn Thomas Pictures/Alamy

DURING one of many pandemic lockdowns in 2020 – it will need to have been the primary, as we had been spending quite a lot of time sunbathing within the backyard – one among my neighbours began retaining bees. He would emerge from his again door carrying the total get-up and fumigate the hive earlier than inspecting the inside for honey. We reside in London, so barely knew him, and he by no means provided us a jar of honey, but it surely was an entertaining spectacle that gave us some cheer on these dreary days.

I didn’t comprehend it then, however my neighbour was a part of a world development. London, together with Berlin, New York, …