The majority of all crops and wild plants depends on pollination by bees and other insects. However, the bees’ habitats are gradually destroyed and the populations are in constant decline; the same is true for other parts of the world. A third of the global food production depends on bees and other insects. Thus, life without bees is unimaginable. However, there is much pressure on bees: Pesticides, antibiotics and monocultures are threatening their existence. The environmental initiative “Mutter Erde” (Mother Earth) therefore launched an initiative to save the bees. 

Austrian Young Naturefriends supported this initiative with a number of activities: Numerous Naturefriends groups, families and individuals took part in the photography competition “Wer baut das schönste Insektenhotel?” (“Who can build the most beautiful insect hotel?”), instructions on how to build an insect hotel were published online and in the kids’ magazine “Murmelpost”, and the fact sheet “Honig- und Wildbienen” (“honeybees and wild bees”) provides information on the life and habitats of honeybees and wild bees and their importance to our ecosystem. This priority topic was rounded off by a training on the life of wild bees (“Wie wilde Bienen leben”) at Biologiezentrum Linz.