FAO News

Observance of World Bee Day

Stephen Dowd, FAO Conference, Council and Government Relations Branch

Members of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Slovenia to establish a World Bee Day, to be celebrated every 20 May. The proposal is expected to be endorsed by the FAO Conference in July 2017, and then submitted to the UN Secretary-General for approval by the General Assembly session opening in September 2017.

The draft Resolution draws attention to the urgent need to address the global decline in pollinator diversity and the risks this implies for sustainable agriculture, human livelihoods and food supplies.

FAO plays a leading role in facilitating and coordinating the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators, established by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 1 .

Slovenia, with the backing of Apimondia, has stressed the crucial role of bees in ensuring global food security, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, healthy environments and eco-systems. COAG Members shared Slovenia’s concern over the decline in bee colonies worldwide and Italy, speaking on behalf of the European Union, highlighted the multiple threats faced by bees, including intensive agricultural production techniques, incorrect pesticide use, pests, pollution, diseases and a shrinking habitat.

FAO has noted that over the past 50 years world agriculture has become increasingly dependent on pollinators, with insect/animalpollination-derived food produce increasing four-fold compared to a two-fold increase in produce that is not dependent on animal pollination 2 . The research comes at a time when wild and managed bee populations are not keeping up with the increase in pollinationdependent crops. According to a recent FAO study, pollination is the agricultural “input” with the greatest impact on global yields compared to human agricultural practices 3 . The FAO research project demonstrates that improving pollinator density and diversity is good both for the environment and for food security and argues in favour of actively preserving and nurturing habitats in and around farms for bees and other pollinators.

Bees are struggling as global temperatures rise, with flowers in some parts of the world blooming out of season, when the bees are not there to pollinate them. FAO members stressed that bees are accurate bio-indicators of the state of health of the environment and offer a way of gauging climate change.

The Russian Federation spoke at COAG in favour of beekeeping as a deeply-rooted and popular activity, while Bangladesh spoke of the symbolic importance of bees as industrious and disciplined agricultural agents. Thailand highlighted the role of bees in traditional medicine. Overwhelming and cross-regional support was given to the World Bee Day initiative as a way of raising awareness at all levels and to promote action in favour of protecting bees and other pollinators.

May 20 has been proposed as it is the birth date of Anton Janša (1734–1773), a pioneer of beekeeping, considered to be the world’s first beekeeping teacher. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria named Anton a full-time teacher of beekeeping at the new Beekeeping School in Vienna.

Once approved by the UN General Assembly, the first World Bee Day is expected to be celebrated on 20 May 2018.

1 http://www.fao.org/pollination/en/.

2 L.A. Garibaldi et al. (2016) “Mutually beneficial pollinator diversity and crop yield outcomes in small and large farms”. Science :Vol. 351, Issue 6271, pp. 388-391.

3 http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/383641/icode/.