By Leslie Lee
Today is all about our pollinators- it’s World Bee Day! We’re dedicated to increasing our community’s awareness about the importance of pollinators, the threats they face, and their contribution to sustainable development.
Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities. Pollination is an essential process for the survival of our natural ecosystems and food systems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend entirely or at least in part on animal pollination, along with over 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land.
The goal of World Bee Day is to strengthen measures designed to protect bees and other pollinators to address global food supply issues and help eliminate hunger in developing countries. This year’s theme, “Bee inspired by nature to nourish us all,” emphasizes the critical roles bees and other pollinators play in agrifood systems and the health of the planet’s ecosystems.
Pollinators are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, unsustainable agricultural practices, climate change, and pollution. Their decline jeopardizes food production, increases costs, and exacerbates food insecurity, particularly for rural communities. Pollination services support over 3/4 of the world’s crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Did you know? More than 200,000 animal species are pollinators, the vast majority of which are wild, including butterflies, birds, bats, and over 20,000 bee species.
We must act now to protect bees and other pollinators, as their current extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal due to human influence on their environment. Nearly 35% of invertebrate pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and about 17% of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats, face extinction globally.
If this trend persists, nutritious crops like fruits, nuts, and many vegetable crops will increasingly be replaced by staple crops like rice, corn, and potatoes, ultimately leading to an imbalanced diet. Intensive farming practices, land-use changes, mono-cropping, pesticides, and higher temperatures associated with climate change all pose challenges for bee populations and, consequently, the quality of the food we cultivate.
Here are some ways we can contribute to bee conservation:
– We can plant a diverse range of native plants that bloom at different times of the year.
– We can support local farmers by purchasing raw honey.
– By choosing products from sustainable agricultural practices, we can minimize our impact on the environment.
– In our gardens, we can avoid using pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides.
– Whenever possible, we can protect wild bee colonies.
– We can sponsor a hive or create a bee water fountain by leaving a water bowl outside.
– We can contribute to forest ecosystem sustainability.
– We can raise awareness by sharing the importance of pollinators within our communities and networks.
As beekeepers or farmers, we can take action to protect bees:
– We can reduce or change the usage of pesticides.
– We can diversify our crops as much as possible and plant attractive crops around our fields.
– We can create hedgerows.
photo: Jody Walker