What can we do to help. COPE wants to draw the attention of South Africans to the Häagen-Dazs Bee Haven in the USA. This is a bee friendly garden created on Bee Biology Road by the University of California.
This 2,000 square metres garden was planted in late 2009. It serves as a year-around food source for the bees at the nearby Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. The garden raises public awareness of bees and provides visitors with ideas of what to plant in their own gardens. Admission to the garden, open from dawn to dusk, is free. The garden charges a nominal fee for those who want a guided tour.
COPE calls on the University of Cape Town, the University of Western Cape, the University of Stellenbosch and Cape Peninsula University of Technology, among others, to do something similar in South Africa. They can act individually or jointly.
The City of Cape Town and the provincial government should make land available. Corporate organisations and businesses should help to fund such a project. It is in all our interest.
The media can take up the issue as well so that optimal awareness is created. The more we learn about bees and other pollinators the better will we be able to take care of food production.
COPE trusts that this idea will receive great traction. We urge society to do something "bee-utiful" as the University of California in the USA is doing.
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