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What if bees held the key to our environmental data?
On World Environment Day, June 5, let’s pause to consider an unexpected alliance: that of bees, biodiversity, and AI.
There is something almost poetic in the idea that bees—these ancient, threatened, and unassuming insects—are helping us map the invisible: pollution, plant deficiencies, and the health of a territory. Yet that is exactly what BEEODIVERSITY, a French company, has been doing for 13 years, betting that nature can be both the sensor and the solution.
Bees as living laboratories
Each bee that leaves its hive travels an average of 1.5 km per trip, sometimes up to 3 km in the event of a food shortage. Along the way, it collects pollen. And this pollen, a natural bioaccumulator, captures agricultural and industrial pollutants present in the air and flowers. It also contains the DNA of every plant visited.
This principle, biomonitoring, is at the heart of BEEODIVERSITY’s approach, now deployed in more than 25 countries. By analyzing the pollen collected by bees over an area of 700 hectares, the teams can identify which pollutants are present, at what concentrations, and trace their origin. They can also create a precise portrait of a site’s plant biodiversity: which species are present, which are missing, and what this means for the rest of the food chain—other insects, birds, and wildlife.
Artificial intelligence takes the stage
But the innovation doesn’t stop at the hives. For several years, BEEODIVERSITY has developed an AI platform that cross-references field data with cartographic and satellite data. The result: it is now possible to assess, in just a few clicks, the environmental impact of thousands of industrial or natural sites without even setting foot there.
Threatened habitats, endangered species, human pressures on ecosystems—each site receives a score, a diagnosis, and action recommendations. The technology thus becomes a tool in service of nature, not against it.
As Valérie Fobe, Director of Commercial Development at BEEODIVERSITY, puts it: using all this data wisely to preserve, improve, and measure the impact of actions, in order to go further, faster, and on a larger scale.
Concrete solutions for everyone
What is remarkable about this approach is that it addresses all stakeholders: private companies, local authorities, and even citizens. Companies, often subject to increasing environmental regulations, find a tool for compliance and strategy. Local authorities transform the data into environmental monitoring stations, shared with farmers and residents.
And citizens? They can contribute simply by planting melliferous plants—flowers that attract pollinators—even on a balcony.
Planting the right species in the right place. Simple actions, but with a real, measurable impact on the ground.
Nature as a data partner
What BEEODIVERSITY teaches us is a new way of conceiving our relationship with the environment: not as a resource to exploit, but as a data ecosystem to listen to, understand, and regenerate.
The bee is no longer just a symbol of threatened biodiversity; it has become a measuring instrument, an early warning system, and a field agent.
On this June 5, World Environment Day, this vision reminds us that the most useful technology may be the one that knows how to serve life.
Want to learn more? Watch the full interview with Valérie Fobe of BEEODIVERSITY, conducted as part of MTL connect 2025.
Join the conversation at MTL connect 2026
The big questions about technology, the environment, and innovation are also discussed in person. MTL connect returns from October 13 to 16, 2026 in Montreal for a new edition bringing together entrepreneurs, innovators, and visionaries from around the world.