Paris buzzing as busy bees enjoy city life
Stung by declining honey production, France is promoting urban apiculture

ANITA ELASH

Special to The Globe and Mail, May 2, 2005

PARIS -- Armand Malvezin's fourth-floor balcony in the south of Paris is all but empty now, but soon it will be buzzing with activity. Mr. Malvezin will place up to 10 beehives on the eight-metre-long space, each of them filled with about 60,000 bees.

Then, as temperatures start to rise and Paris blossoms into its legendary spring, he and his neighbours in the high-rises that surround him will watch as the bees leave their nests every morning in search of the best nectar in the city.

"They make extraordinary honey, quite vigorous," Mr. Malvezin said. "I can identify five flavours -- linden flowers, forget-me-nots, Sophora, acacia and ilanthus."

After 20 years of tending bees on their balcony, Mr. Malvezin and his wife, Michele Bonnefond, are old-timer urban apiculturists, but they serve as the template for many French urbanites.

Encouraged by the national association of beekeepers, which is known by its French acronym UNAF, which this year launched a campaign to bring bees to the city, French hobbyists are setting up hives on balconies, in gardens and on rooftops.

During the past decade, French honey production has gone into serious decline. The UNAF said bees are dying at an alarming rate because of the widespread use of pesticides. Many beekeepers have decided they can no longer afford to replace their stock, and others joined the exodus from rural life and move to the city. As a result, the UNAF said, the bee population has dropped by up to 40 per cent in some regions of France, and it estimates that about 1,000 beekeepers leave the industry every year.

One of the solutions, UNAF president Henri Clément said, is to encourage city dwellers to learn about bees and to raise their own. They've asked city governments and businesses across France to set up beehives in public spaces.

"We want to sound the alarm, to let people know bees are in danger," Mr. Clément said. "Rural France is disappearing, but in the city, people are curious about bees and want to re-establish their ties to the country, so we think the future of bees is also in the cities."

Those who might be concerned about the risks of bee stings needn't worry, the UNAF said. Unlike wasps, which are aggressive, bees sting only in self defence.

Mr. Clément said that about 30 people already keep a total of 300 beehives in Paris. One of the oldest hives is on the roof of the fabled Paris Opera, which produces up to 350 kilograms of honey each year.

One of the newest is inside the office of Henri Meynadier in the centre of Paris. The director of the Paris-based communications company Anatome took up UNAF's challenge to install beehives in the city last spring. He set up a glass-enclosed hive containing 70,000 bees next to his desk. The bees are free to come and go as they please through a pipe that leads outdoors. Last fall, Mr. Meynadier harvested 38 kilograms of honey.

Such an operation would be next to impossible in Canada, where most cities consider bees livestock and place severe restrictions on beehives within city limits. In France, beekeepers in most municipalities are required only to allow a few metres between their hives and the nearest neighbour, and to keep them 500 metres away from schools, hospitals and the national military police station -- to protect police horses from bees.

In Paris, beekeepers must register with the city veterinary service, and must take out insurance against loss by theft or fire or the chance their bees will sting someone, but there is no limit to how many bees one person can have.

Mr. Malvezin said his bees thrive in the city, even though they are surrounded by high-rises and live just a short distance from the highway that surrounds Paris. The French capital is polluted with automobile exhaust, but laboratory analyses show that honey produced here is just as pure as honey that comes from the country.

A wider variety of plants and flowers are available from March until October, so Parisian bees can produce up to eight times as much honey as their country cousins. The temperature is slightly higher as well, so the bees spend more time every day collecting nectar.

"Our bees are very happy in the city," Ms. Bonnefond said. "It's cold in the country, so the bees don't go out until late in the morning. In Paris, they leave at 7 a.m. and don't come back until late at night."

With as many as 600,000 bees working from his balcony in high season, Mr. Malvezin harvests a minimum of 400 kilograms of honey a year. He sells some of it and saves the rest for family and friends.

His main concern is to that his bees don't frighten the neighbours.

"All summer long, there is a cloud of bees that stretches across the length of the balcony," he said. "If you look out your window, and see 20,000 bees in a swarm you won't believe it."

In accordance with regulations, there are no windows directly above or below his balcony. He has had only one visit from the police, when someone in a nearby high-rise was worried about the swarm.

"I explained the process, and let them taste the honey, and then a bit of the wine I make from the honey. That was the last I ever heard from them."