“So what if honeybees disappear? How could that really affect human life?”
Of the world’s 100 major food crops consumed by humans, about 70 cannot bear fruit without honeybees. The oft-cited warning from experts — “If bees disappear, humanity will also become extinct within four years” — is no exaggeration. Yet honeybees are already vanishing rapidly due to climate change and the indiscriminate use of pesticides. The situation is even more dire in Korea, where in the 2010s a devastating epidemic wiped out 98% of native honeybees. This is especially critical because many native plants depend solely on these bees for pollination and survival. At a time when safe habitats for honeybees are needed more urgently than ever, Hyundai Engineering has stepped forward with the “Gift House Plan Bee” program.

Launched this year, Gift House Plan Bee was created to provide new habitats for honeybees losing their homes to urbanization and climate change, while contributing to biodiversity conservation. Building on its longstanding Gift House program, which has offered safe housing to vulnerable communities, Hyundai Engineering is now extending that value into the ecological sphere. Through this project, the company is taking on a new challenge: creating havens where both people and nature can live in harmony.

The first habitat was established at Dream Forest in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul. There, an urban apiary for honeybees and a bee garden planted with 35 nectar-producing species come together to form a small ecosystem where bees can thrive safely, even in the heart of the city. To help local residents engage with the project in a natural way, photo zones and hands-on activity spaces have also been created.