£4.3 million bee health funding increase announced
An extra £4.3 million to safeguard and undertake more research into the health of bees was announced by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today in a speech at the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Mr Benn said that nearly £2.3 million over the next two years would support the work of the National Bee Unit in its efforts to help England’s beekeepers deal with the problems facing their bee colonies.
This will include identifying all those who keep bees and providing expert advice to them on tackling pests and diseases and applying good husbandry.
In addition, Defra will put an extra £400,000 towards bee health research every year for the next five years. This extra funding – a total of £2 million – forms part of a comprehensive bee health strategy, which is under development.
Over the last two years Britain’s bee colonies have suffered significant losses due to a combination of potential issues including the weather, the varroa mite, and other factors requiring further investigation by researchers.
Mr Benn said:
“Bees are vulnerable to a number of threats. Pests and diseases, when combined with poor summers can leave colonies unable to survive the winter.
“We must get to grips with this, to see just how serious a problem it is, what the impacts on pollination are, and what we can do in response.”
Further information
Page last modified: 21 January 2009
Page published: 21 January 2009