Happy World Bee Day 2019!
Updated: Jan 6, 2022
Today, May 20, we celebrate the World Bee Day! It is with great pleasure that BeeLife wishes all of our readers and supporters a joyous celebration. It is the second year we celebrate this day, after the United Nations designated the date for bees, bringing forward the importance that bees have for us and many other animals and plants.
It is hard to overstate the importance of bees. We have seen a rise of reports on why bee protection should be improved, and they are not wrong. Bees have an enormous value for the environment and our food security. As is becoming popular knowledge, bees pollinate a large percentage of our food. Besides, they play an essential role in ecosystems. Not only they ensure pollination services for agriculture, but they offer a crucial function in balancing life in their ecosystem.
We need to remind ourselves that we need to continue working towards better conditions for bees. While pollination services are in growing demand, supply continues to be reduced by environmental degradation. Agriculture's need for pollination is growing, but with bee-loss rates peaking to up to 50% in some regions in Europe, it is hard to satisfy the demand.
However, in this World Bee Day, we pledge to continue our work for bees not only because of their estimated monetary value in agriculture. As it is often said, "if the bees are hurting, so is the environment". Therefore, one of the main advantages we can see for upping the protection of bees is the general environmental improvement that comes along.
Besides, we also insist on the cultural importance that bees have for us. Our relation to bees has long stood the test of time. Even today, we remember one of the greatest pioneers of beekeeping, Anton Janša (1734-1773). The value that bees have is very closely related to our identities, to our culture, so protecting bees is also protecting a part of ourselves.
We wish you all a happy world bee day!
Do not miss a special message from our president, Francesco Panella in this World Bee Day 2019.