The beginning of the ‘urban age’ comes along with a worldwide decline of insects –due to human impact on the environment. Especially alarming is the loss of bees and other pollinators, because of their importance for agriculture and thus for our food security as well as for the stability of ecosystems. Considering the worsening conditions on farmland, growing urban areas might function as refuges for endangered bees. In this article, we describe the situation of wild giant honey bees in the rapidly developing megacity Bengaluru (also called Bangalore), the high-tech capital of the Indian state Karnataka. Naturally nesting in the open in big trees and at cliffs, these bees use high-rise buildings as nesting sites in the city. Excerpts from interviews with citizens of Bengaluru give insights into increasing conflicts between humans and bees, but also show possibilities of coexistence.

On 24 March 2020, the central government declared a nationwide lockdown to deal with the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which caused the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in India. The lockdown, implemented without the necessary social and economic support by the state, represented a harsh ‘tradeoff’ in favour of public health. The country’s already sluggish economy took a massive hit due to the global pandemic and the near complete closure of international and domestic trade of goods and commodities. However, when the government began its unlocking efforts, it relied on incentivising highly environmentally damaging extractive projects to stimulate the economy. This article analyses the environmental and mining sector reforms and the key legal amendments proposed by the government as part of its post-COVID-19 economic recovery plans. The process, timing and content of these legal changes show that the government used the COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to push through undemocratic legal changes that would result in more long term environmental and social costs to society.