World Bee Day is celebrated on 20th May: this day was established in 2018 by the United Nations on the anniversary of the birth of Anton Jana, a pioneer of modern-day beekeeping, to make people more aware about the importance of bees for protecting biodiversity.
Climate change, the use of pesticides, and a reduction in the areas that make up their natural habitat are drastically lowering the numbers of these insects, which puts the Earth’s whole ecosystem at risk. Bees, butterflies, bumblebees, beetles, and all other pollinating insects are in fact essential for ensuring that the food on our tables is of good quality and varied, and they are crucial for protecting the Earth’s biodiversity. Did you know that 75% of food crops rely on being pollinated by them?
Without bees, farmers would have to carry out this process “by hand” – something that is already happening in some parts of China, where bees have died out – and they would radically change our eating habits: we would have to say goodbye to apples, oranges, peaches, apricots, tomatoes, courgettes, and many other fruit and vegetables.
Some of the main causes behind the diminishing populations of beehives include the use of pesticides and unsustainable farming techniques in agriculture. However, each and every one of us can do something to protect these precious insects, for example, by choosing products that have been grown using sustainable methods, not using insecticides in our gardens, and planting flowers that are nutritious for bees, including putting them out on our balconies.
