During the second term of the 2024/2025 Academic Year, Cari-Bois partnered with the Scotiabank Foundation to empower ten (10) students with climate journalism skills as part of the third edition of Cari-Bois’ Youth Journalism Project. For their third assignment, students wrote an article about the effects of climate change on biodiversity. This story was written by Ashada Durante of Fyzabad Secondary School.
Biodiversity refers to the various forms of life on earth, such as plants, animals, mosses and fungi, which build ecosystems and coexist to maintain balance and support life.
Without these living organisms, human livelihoods will be disrupted.
While tiny, the honeybee is one of the most important insects in the world.
Although bees are associated with honey, they also play a significant role in sustaining all forms of life on earth.
But while important, the honeybee is being affected by climate change.
The United Nations has said that bees and other pollinators serve as indicators of environmental health, providing insights into ecosystems and the climate.
Therefore, protecting pollinators like the honeybee enhances biodiversity and critical ecosystem services, such as soil fertility, pest control, and air and water regulation.
In Trinidad and Tobago, bees are affected during the wet season or whenever heavy rainfall occurs.
Prolonged periods of rain and gusty winds remove pollen or the entire flower and disrupt pollination.
Flooding makes ecosystems of flowers and pollinators less suitable.
It causes nutritional stress, affects their overall growth, and interferes with reproduction.
It can also put bee hives and foraging areas in jeopardy.
This creates a shortage of resources within their ongoing shrinkage in habitat, which would be a disadvantage to honeybees and biodiversity.
On the other hand, hot climates or areas with prolonged droughts can affect honeybees, as water is crucial for their survival.
If bees do not get water, they can die from dehydration.
The importance of water to honeybees is explained in a Cari-Bois article published in May 2021.
Written by Jamaican writer Emma Lewis, the article states that “Bees use water to control humidity and temperature and also to dilute honey for consumption by themselves and their larvae.”
Lewis further explains, “Bees take the water back to their hives since temperature and humidity have to be precisely maintained for the well-being of the colony.
“This is why you sometimes see bees fanning at the hive entrance: the evaporation cools down the residents.”
Wildfires, which sometimes occur during the dry season, also have a severe impact on bees, as the smoke affects their ability to seek nectar, and it also “awakens their alarm pheromones”.
Without pollinators like bees, our world would be very different.
A publication by the United Nations entitled World Bee Day May 20 stated that “pollination is essential for agrifood systems, supporting the production of more than 75 per cent of the world’s crops”.
Hence, a decline in pollinators jeopardises food production, increases costs and exacerbates food insecurity, particularly for rural communities.
A very special thank you to the Scotiabank Foundation for supporting the development of young people through initiatives like the Cari-Bois Youth Journalism Project.
