World Bee Day 2025: Focus on Pollinators and Sustainable Food Systems
Aspect | Details |
---|---|
Event | World Bee Day |
Date | May 20, 2025 |
Theme | "Bee Inspired by Nature to Nourish Us All" |
Established by | United Nations |
Objective | Raise awareness about pollinators' role and promote actions to protect them |
Key Focus | Nature-based solutions, sustainable food systems, biodiversity, and climate change mitigation |
Importance | - 90% of wild flowering plants and 75% of food crops rely on animal pollination |
- Pollinators include bees, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, and birds (over 200,000 species) | |
- 20,000+ bee species | |
Threats | - Intensive farming, mono-cropping, pesticide use, deforestation, urbanization |
- 35% invertebrate and 17% vertebrate pollinators at risk due to climate change | |
Global Initiatives | - International Pollinator Initiative (IPI) launched in 2000 at CBD COP-5 |
FAO's Role | - Coordinates IPI, provides technical assistance (queen breeding, honey production), promotes sustainable practices |
Individual Actions | - Plant native flowers, avoid pesticides, support local honey producers, create bee water bowls |
Farmer/Beekeeper Actions | Diversify crops, reduce pesticide use, plant hedgerows |
Government Actions | Involve local communities, provide incentives for pollinator-friendly agriculture, increase collaboration |