ABSTRACT
This is a book about bees. We were inspired to put the book together because of the critical situation bees find themselves in. Bees are under serious threat, with their numbers declining worldwide. As this book bears the title, The Business of Bees, there is clearly a focus on the business-related aspects of bee decline. Throughout the book, the contributors discuss bees in relation to business, finance and accounting. There is also a focus on bee science and discussions around the causes of bee decline, from a scientific perspective. However, business and science are not enough to understand and appreciate the historical, cultural and philosophical importance of bees to the human race. Chapter 2 is therefore devoted to discussing bees from a wide range of different perspectives. Furthermore, it is important to consider bees in terms of their role in Nature and their intrinsic value. By intrinsic value, we mean the value of bees as a species within Nature without any consideration of their relationship to the human species. In order to think about bees in this wider, universal context, we discuss various frameworks, from theory and philosophy, which can be used to place bees at the centre of our analysis, rather than focus on a human-centred approach. Bees have been identified as a critical species within our ecosystem, providing an ecosystem service through pollination, as well as honey production, without which world food production would become extremely problematic. A book which reflects on bees from a societal perspective stated that,
. . .human industry has not become so big that it can do without bees. Where bees are scarce, plants fail to pollinate, fruits fail to grow, species die out, and the air is less oxygen-rich for us to breathe. Even in these days of agribusiness, bees remain a more efficient way to pollinate an orchard than any other, and farmers will pay beekeepers to set up apiaries on their land.1
