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Ekonaut continues the series of educational lectures within activities and programs related to the topics of urban beekeeping and endangerment of biodiversity of pollinating insects necessary for the reproduction of plant and animal species, but also for the diversity of our food, which is uncertain in times of climate crisis and environmental change. The lecture "Sustainable beekeeping from the point of view of a biologist" was created in collaboration with biologist Jovana Bila Dubaić, who studies the diversity of wild bees in Belgrade, in order to give a broader insight into the impact of beekeeping practices on the biodiversity of other insects and non-cultivated bees, to the participants of Ekonaut’s program of city beekeeping BeeConnected but also to all those who are interested in the topic.
The lecture will be held online via Zoom on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. from 18:00.
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApcu2qpjsiGdHigmvsjGwx5Xe42H65O6Mq
Beekeeping has always been a symbol of the connection between man and nature. In the last few decades, due to various, mostly anthropogenically caused pressures, our environment has changed and with it, beekeeping has changed too. Nowadays, honey bees, and beekeepers with them, constantly have to face challenges that did not exist before. For example, due to the intensification of agriculture, the increasingly widespread practice of growing monocultures and the excessive use of pesticides, agricultural areas have become (absurdly!) very unfavorable for bees. Then, there is climate change and the emergence of new pathogens and parasites. Due to all these pressures, beekeepers were forced to introduce new practices in order to cope with new problems.
As a result of all that adaptation, this occupation has significantly moved away from nature. Today, beekeeping is a very complex branch of agriculture, perfected in many ways. However, the question arises - have we modernized beekeeping too much? Have we gone too far?
At the lecture "Sustainable beekeeping from the point of view of a biologist", you will have the opportunity to hear the main differences in the way of life between free-living and cultivated honey bees. What is it that honey bees choose in nature, and can we learn anything from them? Is "imitating" the natural environment of bees a solution to some of the problems in these unstable times for both bees and humans? During the lecture, we will pay special attention to tips on how to deal with beekeeping without endangering the surrounding living world. We will talk about how we can help other species of bees and encourage biodiversity. We will scrutinize why we cannot rely on only one type of bee, no matter how important and valuable a pollinator it is.
One of the frequently asked questions in public concerns the endangerment of bees. We will clarify whether honey bees are endangered as a species, and what is it that we can lose forever when it comes to honey bees. While some solutions exist and are very simple, on the other hand there are problems for which people still do not have solutions, even though they are intensively searching for them. This lecture will certainly not provide answers to all the questions that plague today's beekeeping. It is designed to encourage the exchange of opinions and experiences among the participants, all with the aim of finding answers together.
ovana Bila Dubaić is a B.Sc. environmental biologist, employed as a research associate at the Faculty of Biology for the narrower scientific field: Ecology, biogeography and environmental protection. She is currently a doctoral student at the Faculty of Biology (program: Ecology, module: Biodiversity Protection), and you can read more about the research she conducts on the page: https://srbee.bio.bg.ac.rs/srbee and you can also follow her Instagram page @belgrade.bees.ecology dedicated to bees, ecology and everyday life.
This program takes place with the support of the Secretariat for Environmental Protection of the City of Belgrade within the project "City Gardens for City Bees", the association Ekonaut and partners: Nova Iskra - creative hub.
You can watch the previous online lecture that we organized on the topic of insect and bee biodiversity with Jovan Bila Dubaić on the Ekonaut Youtube channel where we will publish a recording of the lecture "Sustainable beekeeping from the point of view of a biologist".
