LONDON - The British government hopes city-dwellers will take up beekeeping to combat the insect's declining numbers.
Conservation agency Natural England is backing a new design of plastic urban beehive called the Beehaus which it hopes will help convince urbanites that honeybees are hot.
The agency also wants city-dwellers to grow insect-friendly plants. It said Wednesday that the more honeybees there are in circulation, the more resilient the bee population becomes to disease and pests.
Britain has 250 species of bees, but most are in decline. Scientists say pesticides, disappearing habitat, wet weather and a parasite called the varroa mite are among the culprits.
