World Bee Day is held on 20 May each year to draw attention to the essential roles that bees play for both the environment and humans. This special day provides an opportunity for governments, organisations, and citizens everywhere to promote actions that will protect and enhance pollinators and their habitats, improve their abundance and diversity, and support the sustainable development of beekeeping.
So what is happening to our beloved pollinators? Increasing levels of human activities such as grazing, fertilisers and use of pesticides are threatening their ability to reproduce and most importantly pollinate. Pollination is a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity.
Bees may go unnoticed, but it has been scientifically proven that they have a lot of importance to all living life on Earth.Firstly it is shown that bees play a significant part in the world’s nutrition.Bees are perfectly adapted to pollination which helps plants grow, breed and produce delicious foods.Secondly,it has been found that bees pollinate around 80% of wildflowers in Europe, so our countryside and parks would be far less attractive and beautiful without them!!
Close to 35 percent of invertebrate pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and about 17 percent of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats, face extinction globally due to our human impacts.
So how can we do more to protect the bees?
- Planting a diverse set of native plants, which flower at different times of the year
- Buying raw honey from local farmers
- Avoiding pesticides, fungicides or herbicides in our gardens
- Protecting wild bee colonies when possible
- Sponsoring a hive
- Making a bee water fountain by leaving a water bowl outside
- Helping sustain forest ecosystem
- Raising awareness by sharing this information with others
The decline of bees affects us all!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smv_9vgN39A Here’s a quick tutorial for how to make a bug hotel!
Written by Ho Yin and Jayden, Year 11 and Esmond, Year 10 – EcoTeam members
