2019 World Bee Day

 

 

 

2019 World Bee Day

Carla Mucavi, Director, FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations in New York

 

 

Thank you, Ambassador Kuret,

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

 

I would like to thank the Government of Slovenia and its Permanent Mission, President of the General Assembly, the Deputy Secretary-General, the Office of the, the UN Postal Office and our beekeepers for their participation in today’s celebration and for their commitment to the cause of the 20,000 different species of bees on our planet.

 

All interventions underlined that bees and other pollinators are essential for food security, biodiversity and livelihoods and thus important for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 

Every third spoonful of food depends on pollination and pollination is not just about abundance of important staple foods. Bees contribute to healthy foods, diversified diets, sustainable food production, and biodiversity conservation.

 

But we have also heard that despite its importance, pollination and its role in food production and food security has been poorly understood and under-appreciated, partially because it has always been provided by nature at no ‘explicit cost’.

 

The existence of bees is an important indicator of the state of health of our environment and by taking care of bees we care of ourselves and our planet.

 

We are at an important crossroads – at a time when global hunger is on the rise, biodiversity and the health of ecosystems are declining at an alarming rate. A time when global trends in urbanization, diets, employment and trade, compounded by climate change, are undermining our efforts to attain the sustainable development goals by 2030.

 

These alarming signs have been underlined in two recent key reports.  “The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture” the first-ever global, country-driven assessment of biodiversity for food and agriculture and last week’s report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that highlighted that the world ecosystem face unprecedented threats.  

 

Just to recall, that since 1990, Earth has lost 28.7 million hectares of forests that help to absorb harmful carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. One million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction and more than 90 per cent of marine fish stocks are in decline or overfished.)

 

In this context, the World Bee Day is a significant occasion to call upon the importance of protecting biodiversity and bees’ survival.

 

It was enriching to learn about the different initiatives undertaken by Slovenia, by beekeepers, the UN Postal Office and others to promote awareness on bees and pollinators and to conserve and enhance their habitats. Whether these initiatives are small, big, undertaken by individuals, groups, countries or organizations, they make a difference in our global efforts and collective actions to build the future we want.

 

It is important to begin our everyday lives with appreciating and truly comprehend the reality of what we re doing to the natural world and how to avert damages to our ecosystems.  This is an extraordinary responsibility that we all need to take.

 

Let’s be honest: Our daily plate would be empty without these little sweet creatures.

Thank you for your attention, and I invite you to join us outside for a visit to the UN beehives.

 

I wish you a happy World Bee Day.