Hannah Lovell and Francesca Moll, Wimbledon High School

Ten million pounds seems an enormous amount spend on a few sick bees. However, in April this year, DEFRA (Department for Environmental, Farming and Rural affairs) in a joint project with the Scottish Government and other science councils, are spending that amount, to research, protect and save Britain’s bees. A database, tracking the number of hives, colonies and bees, as well as preparing and researching for any occurrences of CCD ( Colony Collapse Disorder), has been started for both honeybees and bumblebees. During a recession, this may seem unnecessary, yet if bees continue to disappear at the rate they are at the moment, it will be a mere10 years before the honey bee has disappeared from the UK.

The global bee population has been declining rapidly for the past thirty years , and scientists can only speculate why. Over the last couple of the years, just in the UK, bee colonies have declined by 15% - if you put this in human terms, that’s 10 million people vanishing in the space of two years. You can begin to see why the environment secretary, Hillary Benn, is concerned about bees; when you add on the fact that bees pollinate, therefore enable us to grow, a third of the food we eat, the disappearing bee problem is transformed into a much bigger issue.

There are many theories why the bees are disappearing off the surface of the earth. Climate change is often cited as a possible cause. Warmer winters and wetter summers can disrupt and endanger the lives of pollinators. There are 25 types of bumblebee in the UK, three are extinct and seven are endangered. Bees, not just in the UK, but also all over Europe are suffering; they are emerging in earlier, warmer weather and then being killed when the frost comes again.

The sudden decline of the bee population also has been put down to a mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This first occurred in Florida, with whole hives disappearing in days. Some Somerset hives reported disappearances similar to previous CCD cases in America but none were later confirmed. However, the threat to the UK's bees is very real, with many other EU countries such as Croatia and Germany reporting cases recently.

The most worrying thing about CCD is that no one knows what caused it. Pesticides, global warming and mobile phones have all been reported to have affected the bees, although some theories are more likely than others. Another theory is that viral and fungal problems, as well as Varroa mites and other parasites that feed on honeycomb, carry a virus that leave a bee with deformed wings. However, the truth is that no one really knows.

If that wasn’t enough, it seems the next attack on Britain’s bees will come from the other flank. Recently, in Southern France, the Asian Hornet has been accidentally introduced from China through imported goods. The Asian Hornet, like a giant type of wasp, can now be found in the forests of Aquitaine, a few can destroy a nest of 30,000 bees in a couple of hours. Fears have been raised that the Asian Hornet could find its way to Britain. With warmer summers predicted, it is only a matter of time.

With Bees pollinating over 90 types of food we eat, from apples, cherries, plums and rapeseed nationally, to citrus fruit and melons, almonds and onions, abroad, the bees play a vital role the ecosystem. Whether the problem is caused by humans, through global warming or pesticides, or whether it occurs naturally, by parasitic mites or fungal infections, something must be done. The bee health initiative, the DEFRA funded research and conservation programme, is certainly a step in the right direction, but more must be done. How will we live without bees pollinating our food? As in the words of Albert Einstein, ‘No more bees, no more pollination, no more food, no more man.’