Green Days by the EPPD: World Bee Day 2020

Wednesday 20 May 2020

World Bee Day 2020

WORLD BEE DAY 2020

The main purpose of World Bee Day events is to spread awareness of the significance of bees and other pollinators for our survival. World Bee Day is an excellent opportunity to put bees at the centre of the national conversation for a day and encourage actions that create more bee-friendly landscapes.

We all depend on the survival of bees. Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities.

Do you know the other pollinators? Discover them here https://www.un.org/en/observances/bee-day/background

Pollination is, however, a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity

Slovenia proposed that the United Nations (UN) proclaim 20 May as World Bee Day. On 20 December 2017, following three years of efforts at the international level, the UN Member States unanimously approved Slovenia’s proposal, thus proclaiming 20 May as World Bee Day.

Bees are under threat. Present species extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal due to human impacts. Close to 35 percent of invertebrate pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and about 17 percent of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats, face extinction globally.

If this trend continues, nutritious crops, such as fruits, nuts and many vegetable crops will be substituted increasingly by staple crops like rice, corn and potatoes, eventually resulting in an imbalanced diet.

Intensive farming practices, land-use change, mono-cropping, pesticides and higher temperatures associated with climate change all pose problems for bee populations and, by extension, the quality of food we grow.

How can we do more? Individually by:

planting a diverse set of native plants, which flower at different times of the year;
buying raw honey from local farmers;
buying products from sustainable agricultural practices;
avoiding pesticides, fungicides or herbicides in our gardens;
protecting wild bee colonies when possible;
sponsoring a hive;
making a bee water fountain by leaving a water bowl outside;
helping sustaining forest ecosystems;
raising awareness around us by sharing this information within our communities and networks;