Green Team Gazette: World Bee Day: May 20th

Saturday, May 20, 2023

World Bee Day: May 20th

Since 2017, the United Nations has commemorated May 20th as World Bee Day to draw attention to bees (and other pollinators) to showcase how vitally important they are to our food system. The date was chosen to commemorate Anton Janša, a beekeeper and bee expert from Slovenia (born in 1734).

This year's theme is "Engaging in Pollinator-Friendly Agricultural Production" to heighten awareness how valuable pollinators are to flowering plants--many of which are major food items in our groceries such as fruits and vegetables, and even nuts and seeds. A healthy bee population indicates strong biodiversity, which is important in many ways to our planet's ecosystems....not to mention our human health!

In fact, it is estimated that about 75% to 95% of our Earth's flowering plants need help with pollinations. Yes, bees and butterflies too, but also moths, flies, beetles, wasps, bats, and small mammals can help with this task of moving pollen from one plant to another. Potentially this accounts from anywhere from "1.2 and 5.4 billion dollars in agricultural productivity in the United States."

"Without bees to pollinate crops, yields on about 35% of agricultural land worldwide would suffer, and 87 of the world's leading food crops would be affected."

To further highlight the importance of bees and Unesco's Women for Bees organization, program godmother Angelina Jolie was in a March 2021 photoshoot of National Geographics photographer Dan Winter's to bring attention to the importance of bees. No surprise, it has resurged this year in honor of World Bee Day.