May 20th of every year is celebrated as the World Bee Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Anton Jansa, the pioneer of beekeeping who was born in 1734 at Slovenia. This day celebrates to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators to improve the global food supply demand and save people from hunger in developing countries.
The theme of World Bee Day 2020 is “Bee Engaged” – importance of traditional knowledge related to beekeeping, the use of bee-derived products and services.
This year all organized events were cancelled and only virtual events were conducted due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Motto for 2020:-
For the year 2020, this day aimed to concentrate on the production of bees and motivates beekeepers by providing economic assistance to deliver standard quality products.
Background of Bee Day:-
The United Nations(UN) approved the proposal of World Bee Day in December 2017 and the first World Bee Day celebrated on May 20, 2018. The UN designated May 20 as World Bee Day to create awareness on the importance of the pollinators, their threats and their contribution to sustainable development.
Other Key points:-
i.Pollination is a fundamental process of the survival of the ecosystem on which 90% of the wild flowering plants and 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of the world agriculture land depends.The pollinators like bees, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds and others contribute to food security and help in conserving biodiversity.
- Current extinction rate of species: –
- Present species are 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal
- 35% of invertebrate pollinators like bees and butterflies
- 17% of vertebrate pollinators like bats
iii.The intense farming, high temperature, usage of pesticides and mono-cropping will affect bee population and the quality of the food.
iv.To address this crisis the Convention of Biological Diversity(CBD) has made immediate preference to the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators.
v.The International Pollinator Initiative(IPI) was established in 2000 at the Fifth Conference of Parties as a cross-cutting initiative to promote the sustainable use of pollinators in agriculture and ecosystem.
About CBD:
Acting Executive Secretary- Elizabeth Maruma Mrema
Deputy Executive Secretary- David Cooper
Secretariat- Montreal, Canada
