World Bee Day 2021: safeguarding biodiversity, ensuring global food security

A wide compendium of sector representatives, policymakers, diplomats and UN officials observed World Bee Day today, raising awareness and calling on all actors to do their part to protect and foster the role of bees in keeping people and the planet healthy, critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

On the occasion of World Bee Day observed today, a virtual dialogue event was organized by the Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the United Nations (UN) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York. 

Celebrating bees, protecting global food security 

This year’s observance of World Bee Day took place as the world finds itself at an unprecedented crossroads, where development pathways, sustainability priorities and global political will need to talk to, and build on, each other in order to act in unison to safeguard livelihoods, foster biodiversity, protect ecosystem services and innovate global agricultural food systems.

In his opening video message, H.E. Volkan Bozkır, President of the 75^th Session of the UN General Assembly, stressed that “there is a clear and increasingly urgent need to address the loss of biodiversity.” He noted that the plight of the bee is emblematic of the larger biodiversity crisis, the impact of which cannot be overstated.

H.E. Darja Bavdaž Kure, Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations echoed this message noting that “World Bee Day is not just about commemorating, but also about acting and engaging.” She also spoke about Slovenia’s active engagement in support of sustainable beekeeping and in raising awareness about the role of bees nationally and internationally, including through World Bee Day observances.

Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General, joining from FAO’s Rome headquarters recalled the global event taking place in Rome, which agricultural ministers and senior FAO management attended under the theme “Bee engaged: Build Back Better for Bees”. She also noted that “The 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development] calls for eradicating hunger and poverty. These objectives cannot be achieved without creating sustainable agri-food systems where pollinators play a major role,” she said, adding that “bees are fundamental to our lives, our food and nutrition security, our environment and overall wellbeing”.

Bees and other pollinators take centre stage as part of a renewed global biodiversity framework

With one million plant and animal species facing extinction, there has never been a more important time to focus on the issue of biodiversity and climate. Pollinators affect 35 percent of the world's crop production. About two-thirds of the crop plants that feed the world rely on pollination by insects or other animals to produce healthy fruits and seeds for human consumption.

Current trends in biodiversity and ecosystem protection are projected to prevent or undermine progress towards 80 percent of the assessed targets of the SDGs related to poverty, hunger, health, sustainable consumption and production, water, cities, climate, oceans and land. 

Against this alarming backdrop, H.E. Andrés Rugeles, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, stressed that “science speaks loud and clear: to deliver on the Paris Agreement and achieve the SDGs, we need to conserve biodiversity and catalyze transformative change.” He voiced a positive outlook towards reshaping the relationship between humankind and nature in order to explore a path of harmonious coexistence, as expected under the framework of consultations on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

Supporting this sentiment was H.E. Tom Woodroffe, UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations. 

“We have a collective responsibility to collaborate to tackle the linked issues of biodiversity loss and climate change. It is impossible to solve one without fixing the other. This year’s Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COPs are key opportunities to raise the level of ambition and galvanise political agreement," he said. 

The importance of today’s international observance and all other timely discussions and debates are contributing to a much-needed consensus, awareness and resolve across all sectors to increase climate ambition, build resilience and lower emissions, the combination of which shall shape the relationship between humankind and our planet.

About World Bee Day

An official United Nations observance, World Bee Day is celebrated on 20 May each year, since 2018, upon the proposal by the Government of Slovenia. This yearly observance aims to underscore the essential role of bees and other pollinators for global food security and in contributing to biodiversity and other ecosystem services.

The 2021 Observance of World Bee Day was anchored in the importance that bees and their pollination services undeniably contribute to the achievement of certain SDGs, such as Zero Hunger, but their role in the achievement of other SDGs has not yet been fully recognized. 

Building back better for bees means supporting COVID-19 recovery activities that decrease drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem loss. Land use change, habitat degradation, agricultural expansion and unsustainable intensification are all harming pollinator communities and, in turn, are having detrimental effects on the availability and access to sufficient and nutritious food, a sentiment echoed under the umbrella the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables.

Related links

• FAO World Bee Day webpage
• 2021 World Bee Day event page
• The importance of bee-ing pollinators: publications, manuals and toolkits
• International Year of Fruits and Vegetables