World Bee Day celebrates the importance of bees

Happy World Bee Day! Take it away, National Day Calendar!

World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20 each year. The purpose of the international day is to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem.

Every year on this day, the global public will focus on the importance of preserving honey bees and all other pollinators. People will be reminded of the significance of bees in providing for the needs of humanity.

I selected three videos that convey the importance of bees and other pollinators for my readers, beginning with On World Bee Day, Worrying Developments for the World's Pollinators from VOA News.

As the world marks Bee Day this week (May 20), it's a good opportunity to check in on these industrious insects that are responsible for about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. But something is wrong with the world's bees and our existence might depend on figuring out why. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports.

That's very much the same message about bees I've been telling on this blog for years, but it bears repeating.

Speaking of which, I present a video that places the importance of bees in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, World Bee Day. Unsung heroes from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Food is precious. During times of crisis, we must appreciate even more what it takes to get food to our plates. [J]ust think of bees and beekeepers. Most of the world’s vital food crops depend upon bees and other pollinators, giving us a diversity in our diets of quality fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

Without them our gardens would not flourish, plant diversity would decrease, and we would miss the sweetness of honey. Yet, our tiny heroes are under threat from intensive agriculture, habitat loss, improper use of pesticides and climate change. Beekeepers are working to protect them. Contributing to our food and nutrition security, safeguarding biodiversity and providing livelihoods for millions.

To all these unsung heroes, we say…Thank you!

That reiterates the threats to bees I've been listing on my blog for most of the past ten years, but it does it well and updates it for our current situation. That alone makes it worth embedding. It helps that the United Nations established World Bee Day, so including a U.N. video is only proper.

Speaking of proper, I conclude today's post with a video from The Royal Family Channel: Duchess of Cornwall Marks World Bee Day as First President of Bees for Development.

The Duchess of Cornwall has sent a message to mark World Bee Day, in her capacity as newly named president of Bees for Development.

Camilla keeps nine hives herself and “every year sells the honey from her hives for charity,” a statement from Clarence House reads.

Bees For Development is a charity that aims to use beekeeping as a way to transform people’s lives.

Last year Her Royal Highness attended the Bees For Development Garden Party at Marlborough House in London.
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Report by Gianluca Avagnina.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is not my favorite Royal — that's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex — but her being a beekeeper makes her an appropriate celebrity spokesperson for the cause. It makes me like her a little bit more.

I will do this all over again for World Honey Bee Day in August with updates on threats facing bees, such as "murder hornets," in between. Stay tuned.