Colony Collapse Disorder impacts on economy worldwide.
UNEP have stated that out of the 100 crops species that are responsible for providing 90% of the food we eat worldwide, about 71 of them are dependent on bee pollination (2010). That accounts of two-thirds of the food we eat. Further more, they have also indicated that the estimation of the worth of pollination annually is between $37 billion and $91 billion.
One example is the almonds, which rely entirely on the honey bees for pollination. A research done by Hoy (2010), have shown that each year from 2010 onwards, the losses of the almond industry in California is almost $83 million due to CCD which resulted in massive decline of the honey bees population.
In the year 2006 to 2007, more than 2.4 million of bee colonies were lost to CCD in the United States. This is equating to a loss of about $8 billion to $12 billion worth of American’s agricultural economy.
However, these are just rough estimations to the impact we might face as it is difficult to identify the financial implications of this tragedy, and the ‘cost’ that the world is losing may be far more than just a number printed on papers. In addition, this is just a tip of the iceberg as the rapid declination of the honey bees population has just began and the consequences can be far more devastating than we might have expected.