World Bee Day - 7 Reasons to Love Bees

We have chosen to honour this day by presenting you with 7 reasons to love bees and giving you a few tips to help them every day. Indeed, we live in an era sadly marked by the demise of these precious insects and even a small gesture can be very important. World Bee Day was established precisely to remind everyone of their importance, for mankind and the ecosystem in general, but it should not be the only day we take care of them. Making our world 'bee-friendly' must be a constant endeavour. But what are the reasons why 'we should love bees'? A little help: all those that make them indispensable to our life and that of our planet!

As we all know, bees play a key role in the pollination of plants, an operation that is as simple to understand as it is important for the environment. Suffice it to say that of 100 crop species that provide 90% of the world's food needs, 70 are pollinated by bees. True, some plants do not require the intervention of bees in order to reproduce, but many others depend entirely on the tireless activity of these industrious insects. Without them, in fact, much of what now abounds on our tables would no longer be available, and we are not just talking about fruit and vegetables! The disappearance of bees would mean, therefore, that many species of plants would disappear from the face of the earth. This is already happening in countries like China, where the practice of man-made pollination is now widespread precisely because there are no longer bees capable of doing this work and preserving biodiversity.

The biodiversity and the balance of the ecosystem are closely connected with bees and their survival. According to the BBC, half of the food we see daily in food shops would disappear if bees were no longer around. Want to find out what foods would disappear from markets and supermarkets? Here they are: Apples - Onions - Avocados - Carrots - Mangoes - Lemons and citrus fruits - Pumpkins and courgettes - Aubergines - Cucumbers - Celery - Cauliflower - Leeks - Cabbage - Broccoli - Pears - Peaches - Cherries - Blueberries - Raspberries - Blackberries - Kiwis - Apricots - Plums - Melons and watermelons. Does this list seem sufficient for you to understand the catastrophic consequences of the disappearance of bees from our planet? No? Did you know that even chocolate, coffee, almonds, chestnuts and cotton depend on the pollination activity of bees?

Yes, perhaps the aesthetic side matters little to many of us, but the majority of flowers that grace our fields, gardens and balconies proliferate precisely because of the activity of bees. By pollinating flowers, bees contribute to their growth and enable the formation of attractive and welcoming habitats for many other animals, including other insects and birds. Bees have evolved with wildflowers, which naturally vary depending on the area. Planting various, native wild flowers in one's garden or balcony means giving these insects a safe harbour in which to stop and refresh themselves. In this way we can help our little pollinator friends who, in turn, help us by making our gardens and balconies lush!

The contribution of bees has also been estimated on an economic level. Often it is only by seeing these enormous figures that one realises how much is at stake with their survival. In 2010, it was estimated that bees contributed $40 billion a year to the US economy alone. According to the American Federation of Beekeepers, as much as 15 billion dollars flowed into US agricultural production houses from the Apis Mellifera species alone. Industries such as coffee or cotton exist thanks to the pollinating activity of bees. Without bees, there would not be the raw materials either to produce one of the world's most loved and consumed beverages, coffee, or to make most of the cotton fabrics used for clothing and furniture.

Did you know that in Africa, bees are used to save farmland from elephants? Because of the insane fear they have of bees, they never go near trees that are home to these insects. For this reason, a real project was born that, by using bees, wants to reduce conflicts between humans and elephants, thus avoiding the killing of the latter. Thus, 'fences' formed by beehives 10 metres apart are created. In this way, if an elephant approaches and moves the rope between the hives, the bees are disturbed and take flight, causing the pachyderms to flee. Another surprising project involving bees is the one conducted by Croatian researchers. They are using bees to detect mines and explosives still lurking in the soil of former Yugoslavian states. Bees are able to detect smells up to 4.5 km away.

Monitoring the health and abundance of bee numbers is also important because these two factors are key indicators for the health of the environment as a whole. In particular, what harms them could also cause problems for other pollinators and more, with catastrophic consequences for the entire ecosystem and for life as we know it today. That is why on 20 December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution declaring 20 May as World Bee Day. The official celebrations will be held in Breznica, Slovenia, famous for its nickname 'the pearl of the Alps'.

Bees have always fascinated the most greatest thinkers and scientists in history. Suffice it to say that already Aristotle, in his treatise De Generatione Animalium, was interested in bees and the mechanism by which honey was produced. Later, even Virgil in the Georgics and Pliny in the Naturalis Historia addressed the subject of bees and beekeeping. In more recent times, it is recorded that Shakespeare was also a lover of bees. Moreover, numerous myths and legends have arisen around the fascinating and mysterious figure of these insects. Bees have always been associated with purity, industriousness and nobility and many families have adopted them as a symbol in their coat of arms. Bees have always been at the centre of man's life: the first evidence of interaction between these insects and man dates back some 9000 years. Do we now want to interrupt this relationship that has lasted thousands of years?

In order to really do something useful and fully realise what lies behind the institution of World Bee Day, we can give you a few tips on how you can take care of them even in your own small way. Don't settle for a once-a-year celebration, make every day World Bee Day! 1. Stop using pesticides, whatever kind they are! 2. Plant flowers that save bees in your garden and on your balcony. 3. If you can, become a beekeeper. 4. If you cannot, buy honey from local beekeepers. 5. Share articles, videos and pictures that can raise awareness of the cause. 6. If you are a beekeeper, monitor the health of your hives, with our Hive-Tech systems!