FAO webinar participants: bees are our common heritage
Painting - dedicated to the World Bee Day - by young Russian artist Ilya Rozhentsov
To mark World Bee Day, which is celebrated this year under the slogan “Bee Engaged”, FAO’s Liaison Office with the Russian Federation held a public webinar presenting projects and initiatives that help protect bee habitats, provide these essential pollinators with natural resources for survival and preserve wild pollinator populations.
Representatives of government, experts and businesspeople, and, of course, beekeepers themselves shared their experience and expertise. Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, moderated the event and told the story of this memorable date. 20 May, the date for this observance, was chosen as it was the birthday of Anton Janša, a painter and a pioneer of modern apiculture. Janša was born in 1734 in a family of beekeepers in Slovenia.
FAO was directly involved in the December 2017 decision by the UN General Assembly to establish a World Bee Day. Initially this remarkable initiative by the Republic of Slovenia was endorsed by FAO’s 40th Conference.
Honey hunting has been practiced in Russia for centuries, with honey and wax (along with furs) being key export commodities for the country, said Alexander Panfilov, Deputy Head of the Federal Forestry Agency of the Russian Federation (Rosleskhoz). Bees do not only produce honey, but they are also pollinators, a function that supports the lifecycle of many plants and ensures biodiversity on our planet.
“Beekeeping has become widespread in Slovenia: there are four beekeepers per 1,000 inhabitants in the country. The Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association was founded back in 1873,” stressed Andreja Šimenc, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of Slovenia in Russia.
“Slovenian beekeeping has centuries-old traditions that have had a strong influence on our cultural heritage. For instance, a special architecture of beehives was developed in Slovenia whereby several beehives are located under a single roof,” the diplomat noted.
“Beekeeping is one of the cultural markers of the Bashkir people and other peoples residing in Bashkortostan and one of the most ancient trades of the Bashkirs,” emphasized Doctor of Law, Professor Rishat Nigmatullin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Law at Bashkir State University(Ufa).
Bashkortostan ranks among apiculture leaders in the Russian Federation. The republic boasts all the preconditions for the development of beekeeping: 1) a wealth of natural and cultivated honey plants; 2) a unique Bashkir race of honey bees (Burzyan Wild Honey Bee); 3) centuries-old traditions and skillful beekeepers; 4) education and science institutions specializing in teaching and research in beekeeping; 5) an enabling environment, including legislative framework, boosting the development of apiculture.
It is also noteworthy that in 2021 Ufa will host the 47th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress.
Pavel Boev, anthropologist, co-founder and director for science of “The Age of Anthropocene” project, dedicated his presentation to forecasts related to the beekeeping sector. The expert cited depressing statistics: last year 80,000 bee colonies perished in Russia. In some regions, the mortality in some bee families reached 40 percent. The damage to beekeepers was estimated at 2 bln Russian Rubles. Meanwhile, “globally, 70 percent of all crops, which humans rely on for their food security, are pollinated by insects, including bees,” Boev emphasized.
Evgenia Chistova, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, “VimpelCom” PJSC introduced the “Save the Bees” project, a free platform for information exchange among farmers and beekeepers aiming to reduce the bee deaths in Russia.
Dr Alfir Mannapov, Head of the Department of Aquaculture and Apiculture at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, spoke about the importance of both research (for example, developing a new generation of wax) and training of young specialists for this essential sector in agriculture.
Vladimir Kiryanov, a young beekeeper from the south of Russia; Sherali Suyarkulov, Chairman of the Association of Beekeepers of Uzbekistan; Nuradil Gabit, Vice President of the National Union of Beekeepers of Kazakhstan “Bal-Ara”; Sergey Tastan, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Beekeepers and Processors of Bee Products of the Altai Region spoke at the public discussion that followed the panelist’ interventions sharing their views on the development and prospects for apiculture in their countries.
All the participants expressed their gratitude to Liaison Office for the facilitation of this event that resulted in a fruitful expert discussion and helped raise awareness of the general public about the positive impact of pollinators on Earth’s ecosystems and their contribution to the conservation of crop and wild floral life diversity.
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Follow this link to hear Russian actor Sergei Chonishvili reciting poems dedicated to bees:
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Russian poets never ignored the topic of bees in their creative work, presenting them as an object worthy of praise…
Two notable examples:
Nikolay Nekrasov (1821 – 1878), poet, writer, critic and publisher, renowned master of Russian literature.
The Bee
The bee, the one that with the fading flowers died,
With pure amber, and with sisters at her side,
Filled in the honeycombs to decorate beehive.
My hand that kept her through the summer all alive
Is blessed with treasured gifts, so sweet and purified.
The heaven meadow’s fruits I managed to attain;
Returned to garden long before the dawn’s display
And found my beehive toppled in a ruthless way…
The nettle bushes bloom on top sunflowers slain,
There is no place to guardedly secure my gain…
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Maximilian (Max) Voloshin (1877 – 1932), a formidable representatives of the Symbolist movement in Russian culture, famous as a poet and a critic of literature and the arts.
We are kids of sunny-russet honey
And the brown-red earth entire,
We survive in flesh in exploit stunning:
Our nature's similar to fire.
Rising high to fiery skies as lark,
Crouching helplessly to silent soil,
We construct without fatigue in dark
The hexagonal, the honeycombs through toil.
Into honey we convert the pledge
Our flame in the body handles,
And we soar above the sunny edge
Like wax candles…
In the beehive of the sky through ages,
Circling Aphrodite's loins awesome,
We swarm in the sunny dust like angels
Over fragrance of the golden blossom.
Translated into English by Vladimir Mikheev.