Under a dry, smoggy sky, a beekeeper in Pakistan’s Punjab province carefully loads boxes filled with tens of thousands of bees onto the back of a truck.
Together, they will travel 500km (about 300 miles) in an increasingly desperate chase to find flowering plants, clean air, and moderate temperatures for honey production as climate change and pollution threaten the industry.
Pakistan’s beekeepers typically move seasonally to avoid stifling heat or freezing cold. Summers are spent in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and winters in central Punjab province.
But weather patterns made unpredictable by climate change, coupled with some of the worst pollution in the world, mean beekeepers must move more frequently and travel further.
This winter was marked by soaring, hazardous smog levels that the government declared a national disaster. Research has found air pollution can make it harder for bees to locate flowers.
Diminished rainfall, meanwhile, failed to clear the choking air and triggered drought warnings for farmers.
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The bees of Pakistan’s 27,000 beekeepers once had diverse foliage fed by reliable rainfall, offering a rich source of nectar. Their honey is used in local flu remedies, drizzled over sweets, and given as gifts.
Since 2022, however, Pakistan’s honey production has dropped 15 percent, according to the government’s Honey Bee Research Institute in capital Islamabad.
Bees are threatened globally by changing weather patterns, intensive farming practices, land-use change, and pesticides.
Their loss threatens not just the honey trade but food security in general, with a third of the world’s food production dependent on bee pollination, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Pakistan’s bees once produced 22 varieties of honey, but that has plummeted to 11 as flowering seasons shorten. Three of the country’s four honeybee species are endangered.
Also, moving so often is expensive for beekeepers in a country where fuel prices have risen dramatically in recent years. And beekeepers seeking better weather can face harassment if they set up in areas without permission from landlords.
Some hope is offered by new technology intended to keep bees cool, addressing the problem of how extreme temperatures affect the insects, if not their food source.
Abdullah Chaudry, a former beekeeper, developed new hives with improved ventilation based on inspiration from other honey-producing nations dealing with rising temperatures, including Turkiye and Australia.
Early signs suggest the boxes improve production by about 10 percent, but they are just part of the adaptation puzzle.
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