Bees are running the world.

Bees are basically running the world. Quietly. Without a salary. Without a single complaint. Just buzzing around doing the most important job on the planet while we largely ignore them.

Here's the thing most people don't realise. Around 75% of the world's food crops depend at least in part on pollination. Mangoes. Watermelons. Almonds. Avocados. Coffee. Gone without bees.

No bees. No breakfast. It really is that simple.

And here's where it stops being fun. Wild bee species recorded each year have fallen by around 25% since the 1990s. Over 40% of invertebrate pollinator species are now facing extinction globally. Habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, disease and parasites are all stacking up against them — and bees are fighting on every front simultaneously.

Australia actually has something remarkable — around 20,000 bee species exist worldwide, and Australia is home to over 1,700 native species. Most of them don't sting. Most of them live alone rather than in hives. And most Australians have never heard of them. Our native bees are quietly, diligently pollinating Country — and they need protecting too.

This year's World Bee Day theme is "Bee Together for People and the Planet" — a nod to the ancient partnership between humans and bees that has sustained communities and cultures for millennia. First Nations people across Australia have understood that relationship with Country — including every creature that keeps it alive.

The good news? Small things genuinely help. Plant something flowering. Skip the pesticide. Leave a patch of garden a little wild. Support a local beekeeper. Even that matters.

A single honeybee makes about one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her entire lifetime. One twelfth. She works herself to exhaustion producing something we drizzle on toast without a second thought.

The least we can do is return the favour.