Buzzing Our Way Towards Sustainability
Our planet Earth has an abundance of life. Everything from the smallest of microbes to the rarest endangered species as well as every other living being on the planet is what we refer to as biodiversity. All species are intertwined and interdependent on each other, and even the smallest of species play a major role.
Honeybees often get overlooked, but they play an oversized role as contributors to the complex and interconnected ecosystems which allow various species to co-exist. Honeybees are responsible for more than 80% of active pollination of many crops, which is essential for the growth of plants and production of food. Bees are known to produce high quality of food such as honey, pollen and royal jelly. One of the new goals of HKUST 2028 Sustainability Challenge is to identify opportunities to promote biodiversity on campus. This past summer we adopted honeybees into the HKUST family, providing them a home on campus! Two beehives have been settled at the backyard of the President Lodge.
Prevalent practices of monocultures and pesticide usage along with factors such as habitat loss, climate chaos and deadly parasites, are leading to the endangerment of honeybee populations. Being mindful of these facts, Eco Pioneer, a group of passionate HKUST alumni who manage a bee farm and promote bee conservation, reached out to HKUST to provide a honeybee habitat and raise awareness in the campus community. Students and staff have volunteered to be the bee ambassadors to help engage community members about the importance of bee conservation and reinforce the idea that we should not be frightened of honeybees; rather, they should be embraced as part of our wonderful and complex ecosystem that provides our food and biodiverse abundance.
Protecting and conserving the bee species is safeguarding biodiversity on the planet – something that is essential for sustainable development and human well-being. This also supports the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations, particularly SDG 15 (Life on Land) Target number 15.9. Continuing to take small steps to achieve the greater goal of sustainability, HKUST is taking initiative by engaging its community to come together for the same.
