Adventures in the “Garden of the Bees” await the participants in the Eco-camp of the Public Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development – Ecovarna, from 29 August to 1 September. The association continues to recruit people willing to take part in practical training in the form of a four-day tent camp in the village of Ezerets in Shabla. It will be held in cooperation with the beekeeping farm “The Garden of the Bees” of Krasimir Kostov. Everyone will be able to take a peek into a real beehive, use beekeeping tools and get acquainted with the work of a beekeeper. If you want to be among the participants, register here!
The aim of the training is not only to introduce participants to pollinators and their role in biodiversity, but also to learn how to spread this knowledge to adolescents. Therefore, they will be trained to use a new educational module for Bulgaria called “Get to know bees, protect nature!”. It includes a pedagogical box in the shape of a beehive, full of educational games for pollinators, as well as an enlarged 3D model of a bee to learn about its morphology.
The module is based on a French educational methodology and adapted into Bulgarian by environmental education specialist and local beekeeper Helene Sabatini. Its development and promotion in our country was made possible by the project “Know your bees, protect your future!”, which is implemented with the financial support of the “Vivacom Regional Grant”.
A short film about bees and people – “Life in a spoonful of honey” – was produced within the project. A demonstration meeting was held in Varna to promote the educational module during the “Varna – the Sea” festival. It ended with honey tasting and screening of the film in front of the Aquarium in the Sea Garden. At the end of September, a second event is planned to present the educational methodology with representatives of educational institutions, schools and community centres in the Dobrich region.
The bee has been named the most important animal on the planet by the Earthwatch Institute following a Royal Geographical Society debate in London in 2019. However, its survival is under threat due to intensive farming, climate change and urbanisation. In the EU, one in three bee species are now extinct. Around 20% of bees threatened with extinction are unique (present only in their geographical area). In 2023, the European Commission announced measures to combat the decline of insect pollinators. There are around 500 000 colonies of bees in Bulgaria and around 51 000 people are involved in beekeeping.
