White House Out To Protect The Bees? Presidential Memorandum Plans To Undo Years Of Abuse To The Bees’ Habitat

The White House had released a special flora and fauna protection mandate in the form of a Presidential Memorandum. The Memorandum directly from Barrack Obama’s desk is about the bees. Apparently the Government has been specifically asked to come-up with ways to conserve and protect the honey-makers.

The White House on Friday had announced a federal strategy to reverse a decline in the number of honeybees and other pollinators in the United States. Evidently the center feels that the threat is too significant to ignore and could potential cause catastrophic damage to crops in the future if nothing is done right now. Under threat, is “billions of dollars’ worth of crops,” reported the White House.

What does the White House Bee Plan entitle? President Barack Obama has directed federal agencies to use research, land management, education and public/private partnerships to advance honeybee and other pollinator health and habitats. In simpler words, the President wants those agencies which deal with agriculture, education and other sectors pertaining to bee and honey cultivation to seriously think of ways to protect these small creatures that work constantly to generate honey and wax.

According to the White House bee plan, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department will lead a multi-agency task force to develop a pollinator health strategy and action plan. These agencies have been given a period of six months to come up with the necessary chronologically detailed time and action plan to enhance bee population as well their health.

Farmers and ranchers who are struggling with declining bee population and subsequent decline in honey production have been granted a total of $8 million to establish new habitats for honeybee populations.

Is throwing money at the bee problem going to solve it? While offering funds for farmers could alleviate their struggles from a short-term perspective, throwing money may have little consequence in the long run. Environmentalists have already zeroed-in on the exact cause of the declining bee population.

Environmental groups have strong circumstantial evidence to prove that neonicotinoids, a powerful class of pesticides is the root cause of bee deaths all over the country. Interestingly, neonicotinoids are chemically quite similar to nicotine and is the reason that bees die in hoards every years, reported NBC News. Environmentalists claim they have been crying hoarse to introduce a comprehensive ban against the use of neonicotinoids, but so far lobbyists have successfully fended off any efforts by the environmental groups.

Currently, the bee plan will take into account concerns like habitat loss, mite infestations, the loss of genetic diversity and increased exposure to pesticides. By latest estimates, the U.S. apparently has only 2.5 million beehives as compared to more than 6 million about 60 years ago.

Though it appears the White House has watched the Bee Movie lately, these winged creatures, along with butterflies and other species are instrumental in the production of $24 billion worth of crops, with honeybees alone accounting for $15 billion. Its time someone strong stood-up for these hard-workers.

Follow this link to read the complete memorandum, signed by the President of the United States, Barrack Obama.

[Image Credit| DOREP]