20 May World Bee Day

20 May is World Bee Day. With the slogan ‘Bee together for people and the planet’, we want to encourage you to take a moment on this day to reflect on the importance of bees in our natural world and how we can help protect them. Would you like to get involved yourself? Click on this link to find an online brochure that explains, step by step, how you can make a difference for bees.

World Bee Day is celebrated every year on 20 May: the birthday of Anton Janša, a Slovenian pioneer of modern beekeeping. In 2017, the United Nations designated this day to raise global awareness of the importance of bees for life on Earth.

Intangible cultural heritage can also help protect bees. Take beekeepers and beehive weavers, for example. Beekeepers play a vital role in a climate-resilient future. By fostering a biodiverse environment, they ensure there is sufficient food for both honeybees and other pollinators. Would you like to know more about this? Then visit the page Beekeeping: Centuries-old and inspired by biodiversity. Beehive weavers also play their part in a climate-resilient future. Using natural materials, they weave hives that mimic a hollow tree, which was the bee’s natural habitat. Because the hives are made entirely from natural materials, they are biodegradable and do not produce any residual waste. The intangible heritage of both beekeeping and beehive weavers is included in the Grote Verzameling.

Would you like to help bees in another way? On behalf of BeeLife European Beekeeping Coordination, CARSA is launching a survey to gain an understanding of current awareness and perceptions in Belgium regarding honey, beekeeping and sustainable agriculture. The survey forms part of the evaluation of EUBeeLovers, an EU-funded awareness campaign implemented by BeeLife. You can complete the survey without obligation via this link.