Steph manor
23 August 2026
ManukaGuard’s all-natural honey couldn’t exist without the hard work of bees. Our Manuka honey is made by bee communities native to New Zealand, the sole homeland of the Manuka tree, whose rare flowers contain particular nectar that attracts local bee populations. The honey produced by these bees contains the incredible health-boosting properties unique to Manuka honey, in particular the organic compound methylglyoxal (this is what a Manuka honey’s MGO level refers to).
Beyond their incredible honey, bees are known for their ingenious beehives and elaborate social hierarchies. What’s less well known is the unique and important role bees also play in our planet’s ecosystem. Known as the world’s best pollinators, bees are a vital part of many plants’ life cycles, and their absence would change the world as we know it.
Sadly, recent years have seen bee populations under significant threat from environmental factors including harmful farming practices and human encroachment on bee colonies. Humans should all be concerned with protecting our bee populations, as it’s a step toward protecting our planet.
The World’s Best Pollinators
Pollination is the process by which bees feed themselves while supporting the growth of native wildlife. Flying from one flower to the next, bees attract pollen through tiny hairs all over their body, storing up on protein-rich pollen and nectar. By landing on multiple flowers, bees redistribute pollen between flowers of the same species, in a process known as cross-pollination.
The cross-pollination process is a huge part of bees’ impact on the planet. By carrying pollen between flowers, bees are essentially providing the fertilization that allows plants to reproduce. This is true even for bees that do not produce honey. It has been estimated that bees are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat, as a huge number of crops including fruits, nuts, seeds, and fibrous plants require pollination. Ninety percent of all flowering plants require pollination from bees to survive.
While several other species function as pollinators – including hummingbirds, butterflies, beetles, flies, and wasps, among others – bees have been singled out as the ones with the most sophisticated pollination mechanism. This is in part because bees are the only creatures who store up extra pollen and nectar to feed their young. To do this, they have evolved to have hairs on their bellies and legs, maximizing the amount of pollen they can carry.
Bees Under Threat
Bees play a vital role in the survival of our planet, but over the past half-century, many species of bee have begun to decline, with one in four species of bee currently facing extinction. This is due largely to the use of pesticides in large-scale agricultural practices as well as in urban gardens. It is also a result of changing land use, which has displaced many bee communities, some of which have unfortunately never managed to return.
In light of the role, bees play in so many plants’ survival, the threats facing bee communities could have far-reaching implications. There is no mechanism for pollination that is nearly as reliable or efficient as bee pollination, including pollination from other insects. In other words, bees’ impact on the ecosystem is irreplaceable, and efforts to conserve and protect bees are long-term investments in our planet.
What can be done to protect bees?
Among the most important steps, humans must take to protect bees is curbing the use of harmful pesticides that ruin bees’ pollen supply. There is a reason for hope: as knowledge increases about the harm that pesticides pose to humans and bees alike, more and more food options that avoid the use of pesticides are becoming available. If you have your garden, avoiding synthetic pesticides is a great first step in protecting bees.
There are other direct actions you can take as well. Those who have yards or window boxes can plant a “bee garden” featuring flowers rich with pollen and nectar, providing an intentional space for bees to feed. For a more hands-off project, you can purchase a “bee condo” to put in an unused part of your yard, providing solitary bee species a place to live. To take a more active approach, getting involved with local tree-planting groups is a community-building way to get involved, and many tree-planting projects focus specifically on bee conservancy. If you want to spread the word about protecting the bees, sponsoring a beehive in the name of a friend is a beautiful gift and an investment in the planet. However you want to contribute, your involvement will help keep bee populations from extinction.
Next time you see a bee in your garden or enjoy a spoonful of your favorite Manuka honey, remember the tremendous impact bees have on our planet. You’ll be grateful that the world’s best pollinators are still around to work their magic.
23.August.2026
