FAO-hosted global event celebrates bees’ contribution towards more sustainable agrifood systems – Rome, 19 May 2023 10:00-11:30 CEST

The theme for World Bee Day 2023, “Bee engaged in pollinator-friendly agricultural production” shines a spotlight on the importance of endorsing agricultural practices that support pollinators, key biological agents in protecting biodiversity and producing nutritious food.

These tiny creatures play a vital role in the survival of our ecosystems, ensuring, through their meticulous work, the reproduction of many plants, supporting forest regeneration and improving the quantity and quality of agricultural production. About 90 percent of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend on animal pollination, along with 75 percent of the world’s food crops and 35 percent of the global agricultural land.

However, bees and many other pollinators are declining. Intensive monoculture production and overuse of pesticides pose a serious threat to bees and other pollinators, reducing their access to food and nesting sites, exposing them to harmful chemicals, weakening their immune systems, and reducing biodiversity.

World Bee Day is an opportunity for all of us to promote actions that protect pollinators and their habitats. Through the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, reduction of pesticide use, and creation of pollinator habitats in and near crop production areas, we can help ensure that bees and other pollinators continue to play a critical role in ecosystems and our food systems.

In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will celebrate World Bee Day 2023, on 19 May, one day before the official day which annually falls on 20 May as designated by the United Nations.

The event will start at 10:00 CEST at the Sheikh Zayed Centre at FAO headquarters. To follow the event on Zoom please pre-register here or watch the live webcast here.

The ceremony will feature a high-level segment, with remarks by the FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu and the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Natasa Pirc Musar.

Speakers include the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Uganda to FAO, Elizabeth Paula Napeyok, and the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to FAO, GUANG Defu.

The programme also features a panel discussion with bee and pollinator experts from around the world who will debate the importance of preserving bee varieties and supporting sustainable beekeeping systems, the threats, and challenges they face, and their contribution to livelihoods and food systems.

The Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division, Jingyuan Xia, will deliver closing remarks while the entire event will be moderated by the Director of FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division, Thanawat Tiensin.

The event will be available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.

The International Symposium on Biosecurity in Beekeeping | Rome, 18 May 2023 14:00-16:00 CEST

On May 18, 2023, FAO, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), Apimondia and the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana will co-organize the second international symposium on biosecurity in beekeeping.

The aim of the international symposium is to update participants on the latest developments in biosecurity in beekeeping and the initiatives that the above-mentioned International Organizations are applying in different areas of the world to guarantee bee health.