From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The U.N.'s environmental agency warned in a new report that the world's bee population is likely to keep declining unless humans change the way they manage the planet.

North America, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia have been affected by losses in bee numbers, the report said. It called for farmers and landowners to be offered incentives to restore bee habitats, including key flowering plants.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the U.S. honey-producing colonies have dropped from a population of 5.5 million in 1950 to 2.5 million in 2007.

The bees are needed to pollinate crops that feed the world's growing population. Of the 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of the world's food, more than 70 are pollinated by bees, the U.N. report said.

For more, see: World's bee hives to decline without human changes