A Professor of Entomology with the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof. Peter K. Kwapong, has called for aggressive steps to be taken to protect the habitat of bees.
He prevailed upon African governments, especially, to clamp down on illegal loggers who were felling many of the forest trees which bees used as their habitat.
Prof. Kwapong, presenting a paper on the topic: “Stingless Bees: Tropical and Global Asset” when he participated in the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) in San Diego, California in USA, said stingless bees, like other bees, were members of the class Insecta and family Apidae.
The bees, he stressed, were either social (living in groups) or solitary (living as individuals). He underscored that stingless bees produce propolis, a natural antibiotic which fought diseases and strengthened the human immune system adding that propolis also fought cancer cells.
According to him, bees and pollinators were critical to human existence due to the role they play in the environment on food production, ecosystem function and biodiversity conservation.
He observed that bees were some of the most important pollinators, ensuring food and food security, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, adding that they significantly contribute to the mitigation of climate change and the conservation of the environment.
Prof. Kwapong indicated that bees increased agricultural production and sustained agriculture by pollinating crops, thereby increasing yields of seeds and fruits.
He said people could even keep them in their verandas, indicating, “They are not harmful at all.”
Prof. Kwapong also used the platform to lift the flag of the University of Cape Coast, UCC, aloft when he highlight to an audience of over seven hundred (700) that UCC was ranked among top universities in the World in terms of field weighted citation impact (research influence) of Times Higher Education’s scholarly research outputs.
He also mentioned that UCC was the only university in Ghana to ever achieve that feat since the advent of the Times Higher Education Annual Rankings in almost two decades.
The Professor of Entomology noted UCC was also the highest-ranked new entrant out of one hundred and thirty-eight (138) universities that made their debut in the 2022 global university ranking league.
These gains by UCC were largely appreciated by participants in the conference.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC