Stamford Youth Councillor aged 9 on why bees are important

Bees are a very important part of human life and without them everything would suffer, writes Lola Medwell, nine, a Stamford Youth Councillor on behalf of Stamford Climate Action Group.

Bees are a huge part of our ecosystem, but still in a number of ways, we are not protecting them how we should.

Bees are needed to pollinate plants and crops and without pollination then animals including humans-would have nothing to eat. Bees are highly under threat from climate change, expanding urban areas, farming, loss of habitat and pesticides. One in ten species of pollinating insects face extinction. This is already happening. Three species of bumblebees have become extinct due to these reasons.

This can change and we can help. Wildflower meadows are the best for bees, but 97% of them have been lost since 1930. Stamford has amazing spaces where flowers and plants are growing, but we can do more. We can all think about our local area and our gardens and what changes we can make to help bees.

You could do many things to help bees. In your garden, you can create nesting areas for bees, by putting old logs and twigs in a stack. You can plant wildflowers in a sunny space in your garden and let wild areas and long grass grow. You can make a wildlife pond, so the bees have water. You should stop using weedkiller.

Young people in our community can also help. In all the schools, children could create more be friendly environments and be involved in B protection projects.

If we all work together, we could protect bees of all kinds.