In Italy, since 2018, a special police unit has been operating to protect forests and the environment. On the roof of his headquarters in Rome are hives – bees help carabinieri track the level of pollution of ecosystems.
“We use bees as indicators of biodiversity. They explore an area of 1.5-2 square kilometers. Thanks to them, we can obtain information that is not normally available about atmospheric pollutants: dioxins, for example. Bees provide more accurate data on the level of pollution in areas too large for standard monitoring,” Lieutenant Colonel Giancarlo Papitto explained to Euronews.
Insects are in daily contact with air, water and soil. Returning to the hive, they bring traces of toxic substances. They are analyzed by scientists.
They want to create colonies of inspector bees in all regions of Italy. Half a million euros have been allocated for this.
