Bees for Development

Bees for Development helps some of the world’s poorest people become self-sufficient through bee-keeping. All their work is based on the understanding of the inter-linked and sustaining relationship between bees and flowering plants. Plants provide bees with a bountiful supply of free nectar in exchange for the pollination services that ultimately underpin the production of fruits, nuts and oilseeds on which humans and wildlife depend for food. When they started work in 1993, bee-keeping was considered a marginal activity, and they struggled to get our point across. They knew the importance of bees in helping to make marginal livelihoods more resilient and successful. Yet not everyone shared their vision! All of their work is aimed at promoting bee-keeping to change people’s lives for the better while supporting ecosystem integrity. Beekeeping is not just one of their areas of expertise – it is what they all do, all day, every day. Most of them are beekeepers, they talk to beekeepers, they implement bee-keeping projects; they read the research, follow global developments and question, puzzle and think about what really works, for whom and why. A unique feature of Bees for Development is the way they stick to the principles of natural bee-keeping. They recognise that for poor people, nature is wealth. In bee-keeping this means using the natural behaviour and immune responses of bees to keep them healthy. Above all, they recognise that beekeepers in difficult environments need to be empowered with access to skills, knowledge, information and connections. Bees for Development started life as an organisation delivering information, and this aspect of their work remains at our core. Their full range of information services can be accessed through their Resource Centre. There you can find all the past issues of Bees for Development Journal and how to subscribe to future editions – free of charge to beekeepers in poor nations, and you can search their online library, access their manuals, guides and fact sheets. Users’ enquiries will be answered by their team of specialists. Their emphasis on building local capacity permeates every aspect of their work. They always work with local partner organisations and this partnership working is effective, lasting and impactful. Their work is based upon the interdependent and sustaining relationships between bees, and flowering plants and people – through the craft of bee-keeping. Plants provide bees with bountiful nectar in exchange for their pollination service, which enables the production of fruits and seeds on which humans and wildlife depend for food. The supply of nectar – transformed into honey comb – is often so plentiful that a surplus can be harvested and sold as honey and beeswax without harming this essential system. Bees for Development recognises that the exploitation of this bee-plant relationship – otherwise known as bee-keeping – can be done in a way that is wholly self-sustaining and beneficial. In pursuit of the Sustainable Development Agenda, humans face huge challenges to reduce the negative trade-offs between meeting people’s needs and conserving ecosystems. Beekeeping is an activity that delivers only positive synergies, yielding income for beekeepers and pollination services for life on land. Beekeepers know that their bees need plants to thrive, and hence are champions of floral diversity and conservation. In short, bee-keeping supports people and nature!
  • Listing ID: 2770
Contact details

1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth, NP25 3DZ, United KingdomUnited Kingdom,Global,NP25 3DZ Show phone number ***** https://www.beesfordevelopment.org/

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