“Without bees, we cannot survive”: How Dubai schools are helping protect our food future

Dubai: Did you know that there are about 20,000 species of bees in the world? Just seven of them make honey. The rest are primarily pollinators – making sure you get food on your table. “When we think about bees, we think about honey. But just seven out of the 20,000 bee species make honey,” Dr Meriem Hammal, manager of the Pollinator Programme at Terra Expo City, told Emirates 24|7. “All the others are there purely for the pollination process. Even though we have other pollinators, like bats, butterflies, wasps and lady bugs. But bees pollinate 75-80 per cent of the food we consume as humans. So basically, without them, we cannot survive,” she added. She was speaking as part of the Hundred Hives Initiative, where the first beehive was installed at a school in Dubai – the Deira International School. Terra, the Sustainability Hub at Expo City Dubai, has launched the initiative as a school-focused pollinator programme, designed to help students develop a deeper connection with nature through hands-on learning and environmental stewardship. At the event, held at the school on June 26, a partnership agreement was signed by Marjan Faraidooni, Chief of Education and Culture at Expo City Dubai, and Mira Al Futtaim, Chief Future Education Officer, Al-Futtaim Education Foundation, marking the school's official entry into the Hundred Hives initiative. Marjan Faraidooni, Chief of Education and Culture at Expo City Dubai (left) and Mira Al Futtaim, Chief Future Education Officer, Al-Futtaim Education Foundation (right) during the official signing ceremony.Photo by Ashok Verma As part of the initiative, not only were teachers trained to become professional beekeepers, but students, too, got the opportunity to understand the critical role bees play, how they function and why preserving the bee population is important. As part of the activities, students got a chance to name the Queen Bee of their school hive (they chose Beyoncé) and take part in a beeswax candle-making workshop. Students seen making candels with bee hive wax during ceremony for Installation of the first bee hive by Dubai Expo City, Terra, at Deira International School in Dubai June 26 2026.nPhoto by Ashok Verma Tiny insects, huge impact Bees play a critical role in global food production, with pollinators like the honey bees, native bees and flies contributing between $235 billion and $577 billion annually to global food production. Approximately 35% of global crop production by volume relies on pollinators, making them the backbone of global food security. But the pollinators are under threat, and that has a direct impact on food security. Dr Meriem spoke about the ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’, first discovered in 2015, with bee population dwindling because of overuse in food production. As beehives were moved to different fields for the purposes of cross-pollination, the stress on the hives made them vulnerable to diseases. “We also have climate change, which affects the blooming season of flowers. When that changes, bees that are genetically used to leaving the hive at certain times of the year do not get their food outside,” she said. Dr Meriem Hammal But the biggest threat, according to Dr Meriem, is the combination of a lack of awareness, genetic pollution and pesticides. “Our fear of bees is feeding massive use of pesticides,” she said. Terra’s 100 Hives initiative, along with ‘Bee Kind’, its corporate outreach programme, and the ‘Dr. Jane Goodall pollinator garden’ at the sustainability hub , all aim to address these issues, by fostering sustainable habitats, preserving local flora and fauna, and creating a model for ecological resilience in urban environments. The pollinator programme focuses specifically on native bees in the region, to promote their growth within the local ecosystem. Learning from bees For Dr Meriem, bees, which are one of the busiest animals on the planet, can teach children a lot more than just about how they impact food security. A self-confessed ‘accidental beekeeper’, the veterinary doctor only chose to do her training in beekeeping because it would fit in with her additional education pursuits of getting a business degree while completing her veterinary course. But her first experience with bees left her humbled. The man training her was someone who had never been to school himself, but she entered his apiary on her first day of training, she saw him open the box of bees, and soon the hive immediately leaving the box to welcome him, buzzing around him in an embrace. “When you enter an apiary for the first time, you have that fear that you might get stung. You have all these misconceptions. What I saw threw me off, but in a nice way. He didn’t even have a veil. It was just me, him, and the box of the bees. I felt completely disconnected from what was happening outside of that,” she said. When she asked her trainer, who would go on to become her mentor, he explained things in extreme detail. “He started talking about geneti