Buzzing with learning, students discover bees biodiversity role

More than a dozen students from the Frederick Smith Secondary School received an interactive lesson on Wednesday about the vital role bees play in maintaining the island’s biodiversity.

Through a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the school, the 15 students had the opportunity to visit Walkers Reserve in St Andrew and tour the nature park’s apiary.

The students learned about the importance of the pollination process and hive development.

“Walkers recently launched their apiculture programme and we thought it would be a great opportunity to bring the students to see this side of sustainability, especially as it relates to land and green economy agriculture. The students had an amazing experience, and we would love to do this again with different schools. The students learned about how important bees are to the agriculture industry, the idiosyncrasies and uniqueness that make up Barbados’ environment for beekeeping,” said Veronica Millington, a representative from the UNDP Accelerator Lab.

Tour manager at Walkers, Meike Joseph, said it is important to inform Barbadians about the key role bees play and to help them develop a greater appreciation for these insects.

“We focus a lot on educating people about the importance of bees. One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people are not educated on their importance as pollinators, as they pollinate about 80 per cent of plants that we consume. If we lose those pollinators, we’re going to lose a lot of the plants that we consume. So we have been doing lots of educational tours as you saw here at the observatory shed that are focused on educating people about bees,” she said, adding that through these educational tours, young people are encouraged to consider beekeeping as a career option.

“We like to encourage younger people to become beekeepers, as we need more beekeepers in Barbados to not only spread the word but also to keep the bee population healthy. Additionally, we aim to aid in research on bees and the various diseases and pests that may affect them, so we can keep their populations thriving. We encourage young beekeepers to be involved and [people in general] to become beekeepers. We also offer training for beekeepers.”

Joseph added that as people learn more about bees, they are becoming less fearful of these insects and more interested in honey and other by-products.