Kleve celebrates bees: Council members receive sweet sponsorships!

Kleve celebrates bees: Council members receive sweet sponsorships!

The city of Kleve is breaking new ground to promote beekeeping and the importance of bees in our ecosystem. A special gesture will be made to mark the council members' birthdays this year. The city gives away bee sponsorships to support the local beekeeping trade and generate a little attention. This initiative is warmly supported by Mayor Wolfgang Gebing, who invited the council members to the bee house in Klever Zoo. Over 20 council members accepted this invitation and received not only a symbolic certificate, but also a jar of honey from the Kleve-Kellen beekeeping association, as Niederrhein Nachrichten reports.

During their visit, the politicians were able to learn a lot about the work that goes into caring for honey bees. Beekeeper Marco Janßen from the Kleve-Kellen Beekeeping Association informed the participants about the impressive role of bees as pollinators in the ecosystem. These small, industrious creatures are not only fundamental to agriculture, but also contribute significantly to biodiversity. The city of Kleve particularly values ​​the collaboration with the beekeeping association and, thanks to a great “bee corner” in the zoo, can familiarize visitors directly with the world of honey bees.

A look into the history of beekeeping

The Kleve-Kellen beekeeping association looks back on a long tradition. The association was founded in 1947 as a spin-off from the Klever Beekeeping Association. At that time the club had 23 members. A lot has changed since then. Over the decades, beekeeping has primarily been a hobby of the older generation, which has left the club with concerns for young people. But a trend towards increasing interest in beekeeping has begun in recent years. The association currently has around 30 members of different age groups who are passionate about beekeeping, as can be found on the Kellen Beekeepers Association website.

Members use different operating methods and hive systems, including rear treatment hives and various magazine hives. In addition, some are also active in natural construction and experiment with hive systems such as the Warré hive or the one-room hive. A central concern of the association is public relations to promote awareness of bees and a natural environment.

Importance of bees for our environment

Because of their pollination work, bees are indispensable for agriculture, fruit growing and gardening. There are currently around 102.1 million bee colonies worldwide, an increase of 47% since 1990. In Europe, the number of bee colonies has also developed positively - from 22.5 million in 1990 to around 25.4 million now. A notable increase of 124.8% was recorded particularly in southern Europe. These figures underline the importance of bees for global agriculture, not only in Europe, but also worldwide, countries such as China, Turkey and Ethiopia are at the forefront of honey production, as Destatis informs.

With the initiative of the city of Kleve and the support of the Kleve-Kellen beekeeping association, a step is taken in the right direction to promote beekeeping and raise awareness of the importance of bees in our nature. It remains to be hoped that in the future more and more people will become enthusiastic about these important pollinators and appreciate the treasures they provide us.