What do CEF and the World Bee Day have in commom?
photography by José Bouceiro
 

The book “No Bees, No Life” 

Last December the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution declaring 20 of May as World Bee Day.

According to the editor Beebooks, with the proclamation of that date the book "No Bees, No Life" received a special honor since it was presented as a gift to all the UN member states.

The researcher Ofélia Anjos from CEF (Forest Research Centre) and IPCB (Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco) participated in one of the book chapters, Bee products in pharmacy.  In the introduction of the chapter we can read that “Bee products (…) which have been used as food and for therapeutic purposes since ancient times, are under investigation as new drugs. They are studied for use for new pathologies (…) and also in research for new therapeutic agents to counteract the resistance and tolerance of current treatments (for example antibiotics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, etc).”

The aim of “No Bees, No Life” book is to pass the message about the importance and benefices of bees and bee products to as many people as possible. Life in earth as well as the food production depends on pollination namely the pollination made by honey bees. However, it was observed a decline in bee populations as result of multiple factors such as diseases and parasites, climate change and wider industrial agricultural practices. 

Peter Kozmus, Boštjan Noč, Karolina Vrtačnik and 66  authors from 32 countries decided to publish a book about this subject. The book focus different viewpoints together with 66 beekeeping experts from 32 countries. According to the editor, the book “is a homage to bees and beekeeping that will provide a technical yet comprehensible explanation suitable for all ages on why bees are so extremely important for our planet and what we can do to preserve them for the generations to come”.