{"id":133957,"date":"2019-05-20T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T11:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=133957"},"modified":"2019-05-20T08:50:47","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T07:50:47","slug":"long-life-to-their-majesties-the-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/05\/long-life-to-their-majesties-the-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Life to Their Majesties, the Bees!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Amazingly organised social communities, bees ensure food chain. \u2018Bee\u2019 grateful to them\u2026 at least in their World Day!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

20 May 2019 – <\/em>While the (surprisingly) still called homo sapiens <\/em>continues to destroy Mother Nature, bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, carry on performing their vital role as one of the most marvellous, unpaid, life guarantors. See what the world community of scientists and specialised organisations<\/a> tell about them.<\/p>\n

Pollinators allow plants, including food crops, to reproduce. In fact, 75 percent of the world\u2019s food crops owe their existence to pollinators. But they not only do contribute directly to food security: they are key to conserving biodiversity\u2013a cornerstone of life.<\/p>\n

And they also serve as sentinels for emergent environmental risks, signalling the health of local ecosystems.<\/p>\n

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Did you know that out of at least 20 000 species of bees only 7 of them are honeybees? Western honeybees produce 1.6 million tonnes of honey a year.
\u00a9StudioSmart\/shutterstock.com | Photo from FAO.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the specific case of bees, the product that most people first associate with them is honey. However, bees generate much more than that: they contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity as well as the pollination of crops, these being perhaps their most valuable services.<\/p>\n

In short, honey is just one of several different products that can be harvested\u2014in fact there are many others such as beeswax, pollen and propolis, royal jelly and venom, and the use of bees in apitherapy, which is medicine using bee products. Good to remember that pollinated crops include those that provide fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts and oils.<\/p>\n

In charge of all the vital missions, there are more than 20,000 species of wild bees alone, plus many species of butterflies,\u00a0flies, moths, wasps, beetles, birds, bats and other animals that contribute to pollination.<\/p>\n

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There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees alone that contribute to pollination. | Image from FAO.<\/p><\/div>\n

The dangers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Quite dramatically, in spite of their vital function, scientists and world bodies continue to ring strong alarm bells about the growing threats to bees.<\/p>\n

In fact, they are increasingly under threat from human activities\u2013pesticides, land-use change (and abuse), and mono-cropping practices that reduce available nutrients and pose dangers to them, the whole thing motivated by the dominating voracious production-consumption-based economic model.<\/p>\n

Pollinators are also threatened by the decline of practices based on indigenous and local knowledge. These practices include traditional farming systems.<\/p>\n

The risk is big: close to 35 percent of invertebrate pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and about 17 percent of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats, face extinction globally.<\/p>\n

The \u2018B\u2019 Day\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a symbolic recognition of their indispensable role as life transmission chain, specialised organisations commemorate on 20 May each year the World Bee Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a way to get you a bit more familiarised with these wonderful creatures, here go some key facts and figures<\/strong><\/a> about bees:<\/p>\n