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Environmental sustainability demands that ecosystems are not damaged beyond their capacity to maintain their own biological processes, functions, biodiversity and natural productivity.
Sustainable beekeeping must first consider the place of honey bees within an ecosystem and their impact on its ecological services. The relationship between bees and people has become central to this understanding. People have the potential to disturb irretrievably the balance between bees and their environment, as the advent of exotic varroa mites in many countries of the world has demonstrated.
At the heart of sustainable beekeeping is the welfare of honey bees: not just at the level of the individual colony or apiary, but at the level of the whole bee population of the region. Beekeepers have often focused effort on their colony and apiary, ignoring their relationship with the wider bee populations of the locality or region. Meanwhile our social, economic and environmental activities and policies may be damaging the fundamental relationship between bees and the ecosystems on which they depend.
The aim of sustainable beekeeping should be the protection and maintenance of viable populations of indigenous bees. To do this we must first protect and maintain the bees' habitat, not just around the apiary, but in the wider region. Everyone, not just beekeepers, can participate in the broader activities of environmental protection. Principles of wildlife-friendly farming and gardening, protecting wild areas and native flora, and other activities carried out at individual, community and policy levels can all work to ensure that bees have sufficient nesting sites, forage and protection to survive and thrive.
Sustainable beekeeping also depends on the suitability of bees to their local environment. Beekeepers can contribute to the genetic fitness of bee populations by keeping only indigenous species and races of locally adapted bees. Historically, the importation of other species and races has led to a dilution of genetic fitness in wild bee populations as well as spreading disease.
Natural methods for the management of bees for sustainability will be determined by the ways the bees themselves want to live. Consequently, there may be some conflict between what the bees require and what the beekeeper requires. For example, the reproductive strategy of honey bees is to maximise their population by division, while humans may want to keep the colony whole to maximise their harvest. Methods of beekeeping should be appropriate to the local environment and local bees, and should always strive to maintain honey bee health. Beekeepers should have a positive effect on their bees and on the surrounding bee population. Thoughtless and uninformed beekeeping can have unintended negative consequences.
Bees for Development's training on sustainable beekeeping.
Bees for Development's conceptual framework for sustainable beekeeping.
Bees for Development's Report of Discussion Day on Sustainable Beekeeping.
Three things everyone can do for bees.
Ten tenets for the sustainable beekeeper.
List of Articles available on this topic (97):
Title | Author |
A cross sectoral approach to beekeeping support | Hausser, Y. & Savary, J. |
A world without bees | Benjamin, A. McCallum, B. |
African Bee Product Company Wins Prize | |
Alternative Beekeeping: The Warre Hive | Jerome Alphonse |
Apiculture and poverty alleviation in Cameroon part 1 | Nuesiri, E.O. & Fombad, E.E. |
Apiculture and poverty alleviation in Cameroon part 2 | Nuesiri, E.O. & Fombad, E.E. |
Balken-Imkerei in Kambodscha | Waring, C. Jump, D. |
Bee Death in the USA: is the honey bee in danger? | Ritter, W. |
Bee-keeping in Afghanistan leaflet by Afghanaid | Afghanaid |
Beekeeper\'s library | - |
Beekeeping and the environment | Sanford, M. |
Beekeeping as a sustainable use of the rainforest in Nicaragua | Hertz, O. |
Beekeeping Handbook for the Gambia: Pollination by Bees and Beekeeping with Top Bar Hives | Hertz, O. |
Beekeeping in Botswana - A Report | Schmolke M.D. |
Beekeeping in Inca country | Fert, G. |
Beekeeping in the Amhara Region | Kebede, A., Ejigu, K., Aynalem, T., Jenberie, A |
Beekeeping in Vietnam | Mulder, V. |
Beekeeping management practises to control American Foulbrood without the use of antibiotic drugs | Van Eaton, Cliff |
Beekeeping Technology | Tew, J. |
Beekeeping: a livelihood strategy in pastoral and agro-pastoral dry land areas of Southern Oromia and Somali regional states, Ethiopia | Debissa, Lemessa |
Bees and their role in forest livelihoods: a guide to the services provided by bees and the sustainable harvesting, processing and marketing of their products | Bradbear, N. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives: Hives and hive making | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives: Things that can go wrong... | Gregory, P. |
Caucasian Honey Bee Workshop, 2006, Camili, Artvin, Turkey | Inci, A & Kandemir, I. |
Cement hives - an environmentally-friendly alternative to wooden hive boxes | Ravishankar, J. |
Challenges and opportunities for sustainable beekeeping in the Caribbean | Solomon, Gladstone |
Directory of Selected Tropical Forestry Journals and Newsletters | Durst, P.B., Freed, E. & Haugen, C. |
Drop Down Top Bar Hive | Tony Herbert |
Eco-friendly harvesting of rock bees (sustainable Apis dorsata honey hunting) | Paliwal, G.N.; Paliwal, S. & Tembhare, D.B. |
Eighteenth Annual Report 2011 - 2012 | Keystone |
Elimination of American Foulbrood Without the Use of Drugs: A Practical Manual for Beekeepers | Goodwin, M., Eaton, C. van |
Enquiry from a beekeeper in the United Kingdom | Beekeeper from the United Kingdom; Bees for Development |
Evidence on Welsh Beekeeping in the Past | Crane. E. & Walker. P. |
Extensive beekeeping | LOWORE,J.; BRADBEAR,N. |
Extensive beekeeping | Lowore,J.; Bradbear,N. |
Extensive organic beekeeping in Argentina | Perone, O. |
Facts about \"A frame for the Kenya top-bar hive\" | Stanley K Mbobua |
Forest hero | Bees for Development |
From Where I sit - Essays on Bees, Beekeeping, and Science | Winston, M.L. |
Fundamentals of Beekeeping | Shah, F.A. |
Gentle beekeeping | Gant,B. |
Haiti Beekeeping Mission | Geckler, S. |
Haiti Beekeeping Project | Sterk, B. |
Harmony or conflict? Apis mellifera and Apis cerana in Southern Vietnam | Tan, N.Q. & Binh, P. T. |
Honeybee agrobiodiversity; a project in conservation of Apis mellifera syriaca in Jordan | Haddad, N., Fuchs, S. |
Honeyhunting in Bangladesh | Svensson, B. |
Improved pollination of insect pollinated crops in Bhutan | |
innovations in revival strategies for declining pollinators with particular reference to the indigenous honey bees | Partap, U. |
Instructions on bee-keeping | Ghosh, C.C. |
keep Bees without Fuss or Chemicals | Bleasdale, J. |
Keeping Bees | Beckley, P. |
Keeping Bees | Free, J.B. |
Keeping bees in their place: impacts of bees outside their native range | Goulson, D. |
Keeping Bees in Towns and Cities | Dixon, L. |
Livelihoods Diversification and Enterprise Development | FAO |
Living with Bees | Sivic, F. |
London rooftop beekeepers | Benbow, S. and Mead, J. |
Make your own skep: and revive a lost art | Nobbs, R.E. |
Making local beekeeping sustainble in Sierra Leone | Aidoo, K S |
Making waz starter strips for top-bars | Eaton, P. |
Marketing Honey and Beeswax from Apis dorsata in West Kalimantan | Mulder, V.; Heri, V.; Wickham, T. |
Natural Beekeeping with the Warre Hive | Heaf, D. |
Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture | Conrad, R. |
Natural Sustainble Beekeeping | The Forager |
Nature conservation is a thread woven well through forest beekeeping | Leo, R. |
One hectare of land gives 1,000,000 Indian Rupees per annum | Jamwal, N. |
Organic Beekeeping, the experience of Cooperativas Sin Fronteras | Valdes, H. |
Oshanas: Sustaining People Environment and Development in Central Owambo, Namibia | Marsh, A. & Seely, M. |
Practical Beekeeping - Bark hives | Musachi, J.K. |
Practical Beekeeping - Top-bar hives in Eastern Senegal | Romet, A. |
Project News - A cross-sectoral approach to beekeeping support | Hausser, Y. & Savary, J. |
Raftering - A traditional technique for honey and wax production from Apis dorsata in Vietnam | Chinh,P.H. Minh, N.H. Thai, P.H. and Tan, N.Q. |
Report of Discussion Day on Sustainable Beekeeping July 2009 | Lowore, Janet; Bradbear, Nicola |
Revival of Apis cerana populations in the Himalayas | Ahmad, F.; Joshi, S.R.; Gurung, M.B & Partap, U. |
Smart Swarm | Miller,P. |
Starting with Bees: An Introduction to African Beekeeping | Nazzi, F., Annoscia, D., Del Fabbro, S., Del Piccolo, F. |
Study on Traditional method of keeping Indian honey bees in Burma and keeping with modern method | Maung Maung Nyein |
Sustainable bee-friendly beekeeping: part 1 | David Heaf |
Sustainable bee-friendly beekeeping: part 2 | David Heaf |
Sustainable Beekeeping | SL and Wally Shaw |
Sustainable Beekeeping for Africa | Bradbear, N. |
Sustainable Livelihoods: Lessons from Early Experience | Ashley, C. & Carney, D. |
Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: What contribution can we make? | Carney, D. |
Taking stock & projecting apiculture value chains into the future in West and Central Africa: Win wins for livelihoods & conservation? | Verina Ingram |
The BBKA Guide to Beekeeping | Davis, I. & Cullum-Kenyon, R. |
The Birth of Itumbauzo Beekeepers Association | Eaton, P. |
The development of beekeeping in sustainable projects in the third world | Hurst, N. |
The honey trees of the Cholanaickens | C.S. Saneesh |
The Human Pollinators of Fruit Crops in Maoxian County, Sichuan, China | Partap, U. & Tang Ya |
The role of women, and indigenous knowledge in Ethiopian beekeeping | Ejigu, K.; Adgaba, N. & Bekele, W. |
The Thinking Beekeeper: A Guide to Natural Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives | Hemenway, Christy |
Uganda Honey Trade Project | Bees for Development |
Warre hives - useful links and publications | Bees for Development |
Waterproof paper pulp beehive for gardeners | Oh,S. |
Why I worry about the Warré | Davies, G. |
Why Warré | Heaf, D. |