World Bee Day: It is celebrated on May 20th of each year. It’s a day to raise awareness about the important role bees and other pollinators play in keeping our planet healthy. Pollinators like bees help plants reproduce by carrying pollen from flower to flower. This helps produce the fruits, vegetables, and nuts that we eat!
The theme for World Bee Day 2024 is “Bee engaged with Youth.” This theme recognizes the important role young people can play in protecting bees and other pollinators.
The goal is to raise awareness among young people about how vital bees are to our environment. Bees are responsible for pollinating a large portion of the world’s crops, and their decline could have a serious impact on our food supply. By educating young people about the importance of bees, we can empower them to take action and become the future stewards of our environment.
Here are some ways youth can get involved:
Participating in beekeeping activities
Learning about bee conservation efforts
Advocating for policies that protect bees
Planting bee-friendly gardens
World Bee Day 2023 focuses on the theme “Bee Engaged in Pollinator-Friendly Agricultural Production.” It calls for global action to support pollinator-friendly agricultural practices and highlights the importance of protecting bees and other pollinators. Evidence-based agricultural production practices play a crucial role in ensuring their well-being while contributing to the resilience, sustainability, and efficiency of agrifood systems.
World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20. On this day, we acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem. These hardworking creatures benefit people, plants, and the environment in significant ways. By carrying pollen from one flower to another, bees and other pollinators enable not only the production of an abundance of fruits, nuts, and seeds but also more variety and better quality, contributing to food security and nutrition. Pollination has a positive impact on the environment, helping to maintain biodiversity and the vibrant ecosystems upon which agriculture and humanity depend.
Here are some fascinating facts about bees and pollinators:
The vast majority of pollinator species are wild, including more than 20,000 species of bees.
Pollinators contribute to 35 percent of the world’s total crop production, pollinating 87 of 115 leading food crops worldwide.
Close to 75 percent of the world’s crops producing fruits and seeds for human use depend, at least in part, on pollinators.
However, in many areas, bees, pollinators, and other insects are declining in abundance and diversity. Our food security, nutrition, and the health of our environment depend on bees and pollinators. Everyone can make a difference by supporting, restoring, and enhancing the role of these vital creatures.
Why World Bee Day is important
Bees are essential to our food supply: Many of the foods we enjoy rely on pollination from bees and other insects. Without them, we would see a decline in the variety and quality of our fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
Bees are good for the environment: Pollination helps plants reproduce, which contributes to biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.
Bees are facing threats: Bee populations are declining around the world due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. World Bee Day helps to raise awareness about these threats and what we can do to protect bees.
Why is World Bee Day celebrated?
By observing World Bee Day each year, we can raise awareness on the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy, and on the many challenges they face today. We have been celebrating this day since 2018, thanks to the efforts of the Government of Slovenia with the support of Apimondia, that led the UN General Assembly to declare 20 May as World Bee Day.
The date for this observance was chosen as it was the day Anton Janša, a pioneer of modern apiculture, was born. Janša came from a family of beekeepers in Slovenia, where beekeeping is an important agricultural activity with a longstanding tradition.
Today bees, pollinators, and many other insects are declining in abundance. This day provides an opportunity for all of us whether we work for governments, organizations or civil society or are concerned citizens to promote actions that will protect and enhance pollinators and their habitats, improve their abundance and diversity, and support the sustainable development of beekeeping.
Timeline leading to World Bee Day
20 May 1734 – Breznica, Slovenia Birth of Anton Janša, who came from a long line of beekeepers, became a pioneer of modern apiculture. Bees were a frequent topic of conversation with neighbouring farmers, who would gather at the village and discuss farming and bee-keeping practices. 1766 – Anton enrolled in the first bee-keeping school in Europe. 1769 – Janša worked fulltime as a beekeeper. 1771 – Published the book Discussion on Bee-keeping in German. 1773 – Death of Jansa by typhus. 2016 – At the FAO Regional Conference for Europe, the Republic of Slovenia proposed World Bee Day to be celebrated on 20 May each year, with the support of Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Association. 2017 – Proposal for World Bee Day was submitted for consideration at the 40th Session of FAO Conference. 2017 – UN General Assembly unanimously proclaimed 20 May as World Bee Day. 20 May 2018 – First Observance of World Bee Day
The Role of Individuals in Bee Conservation
Every individual can contribute to bee conservation efforts through simple yet impactful actions. Planting bee-friendly flowers, avoiding the use of chemical pesticides in gardens, supporting local beekeepers, protecting wild bee colonies when possible, buying products from sustainable agricultural practices, making a bee water fountain by leaving a water bowl outside, helping sustaining forest ecosystems, buying raw honey from local farmers and advocating for policies that prioritize bee welfare are actionable steps towards fostering a bee-friendly environment.
Conclusion
On World Bee Day, let us recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions of bees to our ecosystem and global food security. By fostering a collective commitment to bee conservation and sustainability, we can ensure a brighter future for both bees and humanity.
“If the bees disappeared from the surface of the globe the man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man”.
