Today is the third worldwide celebration of World Bee Day. It is surprising that this is only the third year of recognition, when bees and other pollinators are arguably the most important members of our ecosystems, and should be celebrated EVERY day in my opinion. Every third spoonful of food that we eat and 80% of the world’s flowers depend on bees for pollination.

Bees provide invaluable benefits to our lives by enriching plants with their pollen, making honey for our consumption, and adding to the biodiversity of our environment. The monetary value of the impact of bees on our planet has been estimated to be as much as $217 billion USD.

Why celebrate world bee day?

World Bee Day was born out of Slovenia, where 1 out of every 200 citizens is a beekeeper. It is celebrated on May 20th because it is the birthday of Anton Janša, who is credited as a pioneer of modern apiculture. The goal of the day is to bolster protection for bees and grow awareness of their contribution to agriculture and biodiversity worldwide. Peter Kozmus, a Slovenian beekeeper and advocate for the creation of World Bee Day, believes that the day is not so much of a celebration as it is a day for education: “We do not want World Bee Day to be a celebration because we don’t have anything to celebrate right now. We want to use this day as a tool to inform people that bees are important.”

A bee hotel on the rooftop of Fairmont Waterfront in downtown Vancouver

What Kozmus is referring to is the steady decline in bee populations around the world over the past few decades. In Europe, bumblebee populations fell by 17% from 2000 to 2014. This number is considerably larger at 46% in North America. In 2019 alone, American beekeepers reported an alarming 37% loss of honeybee colonies.

Why are bees in decline?

Bees are in decline for many reasons. It is easy for news outlets to point the finger at one culprit and sensationalize their impact, but it is really a crossover of multiple stressors that are impacting bees. These factors include increased use of pesticides, the decline of wildflower cultivation, land-use change, intensive farming practices, mono-cropping and climate change.

Neonicitinoids (neonics) have been singled out as a honeybee grim reaper. These are a particularly nasty group of nicotine-like pesticides. A study ound that these chemicals are more toxic than most other pesticides and persist longer in the environment, posing a greater threat to honeybees. In 2011, neonics were recognized by Slovenian beekeepers as harmful to bees, and the Slovenian Beekeepers Association (SBA) urged their Ministry of Agriculture to act. While there was no definitive proof of this link, the government trusted the beekeepers and banned the use of the pesticides that same year. Positive results for bee populations were seen across the country and the SBA now reports an annual 2% increase in their number of bee colonies. The EU saw this success and followed suit in 2013 by enacting a similar ban but have not yet seen the same positive change, likely due to the widespread use of other pesticides.

Bees buzzing at local Elk River Apiaries based out of Fernie, BC

Canada is late to the game on this front. Health Canada has decided to cancel the use of neonics on crops that attract bees (berries, fruiting vegetables) but the implementation of this restriction is still ongoing and won’t be completed until 2021. There is also new evidence that these chemicals could negatively impact coral and amphipods. While neonics are particularly bad for honeybees, all pesticides pose a threat to bees and should be phased out of our agricultural environments in a way that supports farmers and the land they grow on.

What can we do to support bees?

One of the best ways to support bees is by planting native flowering plants in your yard. Amazingly, native flowers attract four times as many pollinators as non-natives. You likely already have bee-friendly flowers growing on your lawn in the form of dandelions and buttercups. While regarded as weeds, try to leave these to flower until other summertime plants begin to bloom so that bees have a source of food throughout the season. Find a long list of local BC plants that support bees here.

Beekeepers from Vancouver-based Hives for Humanity. They provide beekeeping opportunities for residents of the Downtown Eastside and produce local honey, candles, self care products and more.

If you live in an apartment or don’t have access to a yard for planting, another great way to support bees is to buy raw honey and pollen from local beekeepers. You can find options at your local farmer’s market or through a quick Google search.

It is also important to support regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices when you can by doing your research on where your food comes from, shopping local, and eating seasonally.

To learn more about bees, I recommend the book Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive by Mark L. Winston and the episode “Lawyers, Guns & Honey” of the Netflix series Rotten.

Celebrating & Supporting Bees for the Heroes They Are