Today (20th) is World Punishment Day set by the United Nations. These days exist because bees, which play a vital role in food production and ecosystem protection around the world, are on the verge of extinction. In particular, it is a serious problem in Korea that black locust trees, which serve as a representative food for bees, are disappearing.

Jang Se-man, an environmental reporter, covered the story.

For bees raised in beekeeping farms, this time of May is the only time to taste natural flower honey.

More than 80% of the country’s natural honey production relies on the locust flower, as it is the blooming season of the locust flower.

During the rest of the year, they have to wait until the following spring, using the sugar water provided by the farmhouse as nourishment.

The problem is that the flowers blooming earlier are not the same as before.

[Park Myeong-jun/ Paju beekeeping farmer: (Black locust flowers) Usually 22 to 23 per flower, but (this year) only 18 to 19.] Black locust trees메이저사이트 were planted in large numbers during forest reclamation in the 1970s, and since then

40 As the years pass, the number of flowers produced decreases as a kind of aging phenomenon.

In addition, the black locust forest itself is disappearing.

These are black locust trees whose bottoms have been cut off.

Owners of private forests prefer trees such as larch, which are economically viable, so as you can see, black locust trees are forced to take a back seat. The Akashi forest area, which increased to

320,000 ha in the 1980s, has recently disappeared by nearly 90%.

In addition to mites, excessive pesticides, and abnormal climate, the shortage of honey plants is also contributing to the death of bees. [Jeong Cheol-eui/Professor of Andong University Department of Botanical Medicine: (Reduced number of wheat sources) If there are fewer bees, it affects the health of plants

that reproduce by pollinators, and (can pose a great threat to the ecosystem because there are fewer seeds and fruits.)]

Greenpeace research results show that the plant area needs to be increased more than twice as large as the current one, but the current government plan is not enough.

In particular, as seen in the previous case, it is urgent to diversify the sources of wheat so that the flowering period does not overlap with a specific tree species.