The importance of bee-ing pollinators

World Bee Day (20 May) is an opportunity to highlight the importance of beekeepers and the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy, safeguarding biodiversity, and contributing to food security and nutrition. This year, we will celebrate the diversity of bees and look at the ways we keep them.

Browse this selection of FAO publications offering guidance, tools and analysis on pollinators and beekeeping.

For further reading, see the  Publications catalogue.

Protecting pollinators from pesticides – Urgent need for action
This brief suggests possible options to step up policy and legislation, as well as risk assessment and risk mitigation, with the aim to protect pollinators from pesticides.

Good beekeeping practices for sustainable apiculture
These guidelines examine products and services that bees provide, including honey, pollen and apitherapy. The good practices showcased include using blockchain technology to build a honey traceability system.

Responsible use of antimicrobials in beekeeping
This report introduces the Progressive Management Pathway (PMP) for biosecurity measures in beekeeping, a useful tool to assist governments, beekeepers and the industry in defining the steps required for sustainable, healthy and resilient beekeeping.

Visual manual on good beekeeping practices for small-scale beekeepers in Africa
This manual cautions against unsustainable honey harvesting practices and their negative impact on bees and the environment. It also demonstrates how to use beekeeping equipment to keep healthy bees and harvest quality honey, such as disinfecting beekeeping equipment regularly.

The pollination services of forests – A review of forest and landscape interventions to enhance their cross-sectoral benefits
This working paper reviews published literature on the impacts of forest and landscape management practices on pollinators. It also addresses the implications of climate change, collates case studies, and makes recommendation on measures for maintaining pollinator diversity and abundance in forests and landscapes.

Good beekeeping practices. Practical manual on how to identify and control the main diseases of the honeybee (Apis mellifera)
This publication is designed to help beekeepers, and advisory services workers in the industry, identify and prevent honeybee diseases, as well as apply the correct treatments. 

More on pollination

• Review of existing legislation to protect pollinators from pesticides in selected countries 
• Towards sustainable crop pollination services. Measures at field, farm and landscape scales
• Mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services with a focus on pollination
• The pollination of cultivated plants: a Compendium for practitioners –  Volume 1 &  Volume 2.
• A quantitative approach to the socio-economic valuation of pollinator-friendly practices: a protocol for its use
• Protocol to detect and monitor pollinator communities: Guidance for practitioners
• Crops, weeds and pollinators − Understanding ecological interactions for better management
• Pollinator safety in agriculture
• Pollinators challenge badge
• Aspects determining the risk of pesticides to wild bees: Risk profiles for focal crops on three continents
• Value-added products from beekeeping (1996)
• Why bees matter: The importance of bees and other pollinators for food and agriculture
• Apiculture et changements climatiques: construire une filière résiliente (available in French only)
• Initiative Casamiel, pour une apiculture résiliente, productive et inclusive en Casamance (available in French)
• Diversity of bees and wild pollinators in the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam

More titles can be browsed  here.