Nature’s workers face threat of extinction in global warming
By Alberto Leny, May 27, 2025For thousands of years, bees have benefited humanity, providing wax, royal jelly, propolis (resin), and the golden honey loved and valued around the world for its nutritional benefits. Last week, humanity celebrated World Bee Day on 20 May.
Bees also play a vital role in keeping people and the planet healthy; their products and even venom have been used in traditional medicine and to treat ailments.
They are, however, best known as pollinators. Along with butterflies, birds and bats, bees are responsible for pollinating over 45 per cent of crops globally, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
“Understandably, pollinators reflect the health of an ecosystem. Serving as a kind of warning system. When they are abundant and diverse, nature is thriving,” Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Deputy Director Ewald Rametsteiner and Senior Natural Resources Officer, Forestry Division, Fritjof Boerstler, says.
Having originated in colder climates or evolved to live in them, some species of bees are unable to adjust to new warmer temperatures as a result of global warming caused by human-induced climate change.
As temperatures rise, these bees are forced to migrate to colder zones, shrinking their habitats and limiting their ability to pollinate their familiar environments.
Some of the world’s 20,000 bee species are under threat, and roughly 40 per cent of all invertebrate pollinator species, particularly bees and butterflies, face extinction, driven by habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, disease, invasive species, and pollution.
Threatened colonies
Climate change significantly impacts bee populations, posing serious threats to their survival and the ecosystems they support.
Changes in temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events disrupt bee foraging, breeding cycles, and overall health, leading to population declines.
Bees’ habitat and food source impacts include reduced habitat, changing plant phenology, drought and extreme weather.
Droughts can dry up bee forage, while extreme rain events can limit foraging time. Warmer temperatures, especially in winter, can increase bee mortality, as bees are more susceptible to stress.
Warmer winters can trigger earlier brood rearing, potentially impacting colony survival if food resources are insufficient.
Extreme heat can cause colony collapse, especially if water is scarce for cooling.
Climate change can disrupt colony dynamics, such as swarming and migration patterns and the geographic distribution of social behaviours, potentially impacting bee populations.
Other factors include air pollution and pesticide use.
The consequences for ecosystems are grave. Declining bee populations lead to reduced pollination of crops and wild plants, impacting food security and biodiversity. Climate change contributes to an impaired ecosystem function.
Bees play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and their decline can have cascading effects on plant and animal life.
Climate change affects pollinators, especially bees. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists 16 species of bees as vulnerable, 18 as endangered and 9 as critically endangered globally.
In its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says climate change directly contributes to the loss of insects’ habitats.
Failure to achieve the most ambitious Paris Agreement goals of limiting global temperature rise to well below 1.5°C and settling for a 2°C pathway will lead to significantly worse consequences.
Climate change also affects the timing and availability of flowering plants, leading to mismatches between pollinators and their food sources.
A study published in Science found that climate change has shifted plants’ blooming timing earlier than pollinators were active and caused certain plants to move to higher elevations, resulting in a decline in pollination.
Another study published in the journal Global Change Biology found that climate change could lead to a decline in the quality of nectar, the main food source for many pollinators.
The study demonstrates that as temperatures rise, the sugar content of nectar decreases, making it less nutritious for pollinators.
This leads to a decline in the health and reproductive success of pollinators, as well as a decline in the pollination of plants.
How can this decline and the threat of extinction confronting bees be stopped?
Cutting global emissions is key. Recognising how the current climate crisis is worsening the environment we share with many species, such as pollinators, it is essential to continue advocating for emissions reductions. Governments and businesses must adopt more concrete and transparent roadmaps to Net Zero.
This means reducing, if not eliminating, the usage of pesticides and insecticides, especially those that contain neonicotinoids since these chemicals are detrimental to pollinators and can have a trickle-down effect on pollination as a whole.
Supporting livelihoods
Intensive agriculture and monoculture crops reduce the diversity of food sources for pollinators, while chemical use compromises their health and survival. On World Bee Day, humanity reflected on the benefits that bees offer – as pollinators, providers of food and medicine, and partners in sustainable development.
“Protecting bees goes directly to supporting livelihoods. Without pollination, agrifood systems unravel. Without agrifood systems, rural economies falter, nutrition declines, and progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stalls,” wrote Rametsteiner and Boerstler in the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
FAO is taking action around the world through programmes to protect bees and expand apiculture. Bees can play a crucial role in sustainable and equitable agrifood systems, which are essential for ensuring global food security.
For example, in eastern and southern Africa, the Miombo-Mopane woodlands are under pressure from deforestation and land degradation, threatening ecosystems that support over 150 million people.
Through the Impact Programme on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes, co-funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), FAO is promoting sustainable beekeeping in Tanzania and five other Miombo-Mopane countries as a nature-based solution (NbS) to reverse these negative trends, restore ecosystems and support livelihoods.
This helps to preserve forests and woodlands in each country through restoration and rehabilitation-oriented activities, fosters sustainable beekeeping practices and value chains, and builds the capacities of producer organisations.
Such solutions also empower producers and their communities to become stewards of these rich, biologically diverse woodlands, sharing lessons learned across the region.
Tanzania aims to double its honey and beeswax production by 2031, leveraging beekeeping to meet national conservation and economic goals – and helping promote healthy bees in the process.
FAO is also working with small producers to scale up sustainable agriculture to improve livelihoods.
In Liberia, honey production is transforming the lives of women supported with essential equipment, working with other beekeepers to access new markets.
The bees play a vital role in helping restore natural vegetation in degraded areas, and beekeepers, in turn, are dedicated to preserving forests for healthy bee populations.
FAO is also working with communities around the world to protect pollinators from pesticides, address antimicrobial resistance in bees, and help beekeepers identify and control honeybee diseases.
Humanity can take some small actions to help secure the future of these small but mighty insects, such as planting bee-friendly flowers, buying honey and bee products locally, planting hedgerows, avoiding harmful chemicals and pesticides, and making organic, sustainable food choices.
Climate change poses a significant threat to bees and their ecosystems. Understanding the specific impacts of climate change on different bee species and populations is crucial for developing effective conservation strategies.