Why protecting bees is essential for keeping human beings alive

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On an unusually mild May morning, Sunder Nursery in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti area is all abuzz. Quite literally. Behind the stone wall marking the end of the territory accessible to visitors, some winged creatures are fluttering around over a few private acres of wilderness.

At a glance, they look about the size of a housefly or gnat. But these busy creatures are, in fact, stingless bees, one of the several species of bees in this 16th-century Mughal garden.“There must be 100 stingless bees around Sunder Nursery,” says Rakesh Gupta, a beekeeper for over 20 years and chief adviser to the Lucknow-based Golden Hive Foundation, founded in 2015. “These are extremely versatile pollinators.

Some varieties of this species only pollinate vanilla—no other variant will do.”A few weeks ago, when I had met Ratish Nanda, conservation architect and CEO of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in India, to talk about the restoration and upkeep of this historic site, he had spoken about the bee conservation programme at the park. “We organise around 20 workshops throughout the year on bees,” he had said. While many of these events are attended by students, some are open to the public.Pointing out the 10 bee boxes and 15-20 natural hives in the park, Nanda also mentioned a service his team provides to the public in association with experts like Gupta.

“If you don’t like bees and beehives in your home or neighbourhood, don’t smoke them out,” he said. “Just give us a call and we’ll come and shift them to Sunder Nursery or to another place more conducive for the bees.”Over the last few years, Gupta has helped relocate bees from all over the National Capital Region (NCR). “They choose to build hives in nooks and