Questioning public perception, conservation policy, and recovery actions for honeybees in North America

Global pollinator declines have resulted in an increasing number of policies and actions to help bee populations. In North America, there is strong public engagement, but also growing controversies over how to address declines. This is fueled by complex scientific evidence across species, habitat types, geographic regions, as well as intense lobbying by NGOs, beekeeping, agro-chemical and farming industries. Policy and conservation initiatives often focus on the Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, a domesticated species not native to North America. Although losses of managed honeybee colonies are recorded annually, we argue that honeybee losses are not a conservation problem, but instead a domesticated animal management issue. By focusing attention on honeybees, policies and subsequent resources may undermine native bee conservation and have negative impacts ecologically and socially. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved