POLLINATORS POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION

THE ASSESSMENT REPORT ON POLLINATORS, POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION
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5. BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY, POLLINATORS AND
THEIR SOCIO-CULTURAL VALUES
with mite-inhibiting effects (Roué et al., 2015). In Brazil,
technologies and innovations of traditional practices of
stingless beekeeping have been brought together into
several manuals (Nogueira-Neto, 1997; Venturieri, 2008;
Witter and Nunes-Silva, 2014).
Many innovations have developed from use of bee wax
in east Africa. Wax is seen as a negotiable residue or can
serve to repair objects, to soften skins, and to make crafts
or jewellery (Gadbin, 1976; Villières, 1987). In Australia,
cerumen (wax made by bees from plant materials and their
excretions) has been found in protective covers, fashioned
around ancient rock paintings, to protect them from rain and
erosion, and to create shapes of humans, dingoes, turtles,
and spirit figures on the rock surface (Halcroft et al., 2013).
Cerumen is still used by Australian Aboriginal artists and
craftsmen to manufacture items for use and sale including
hunting tools such as spears (“kek”) and woomeras (“thul”),
as well as firesticks “(thum pup”) and mouth pieces for
didgeridoos, a traditional musical instrument (Yunkaporta,
2009; Koenig et al., 2011).
5.2.10 Adaptation to change
Beekeeping has been demonstrated to be closely linked
with traditional knowledge and adaptation to climate change
in Ethiopia (Bogale, 2009; Kumsa and Gorfu, 2014), and
it is connected to self-reliance in Southern Africa (Illgner
et al., 1998; Nel et al., 2000). Seven mechanisms of
environmental adaptation have been identified among the
Xingu Kawaiwete (Kaibai) of Brazil: 1) knowledge innovation
in development of nomenclature for ecological zones and
new species of bees; 2) increase in diversity of resources
used for different purposes (e.g., to build canoes) due to
village sedentarization and scarcity of important forest
CASE EXAMPLE 5-12
INNOVATIONS TO FOSTER POLLINATORS AND POLLINATION BASED ON
TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES
Location: Central America and Colombia
Indigenous women; Florina López Miro, oral presentation, p. 39 (López et al., 2015)
resources; 3) agrobiodiversity conservation and recuperation
of crop diversity, including through cultivating pollinator
resources; 4) travel to ancestral land to collect resources;
5) substitution with other local species; 6) exchange of
varieties and seeds among families, villages and other
ethnic groups; 7) semi-domestication (e.g., of invasive
bees) or intentional management – through experiments for
planting and protecting key resources (Athayde et al., 2006;
Athayde, 2010; Athayde, 2015) (Case example 5-12).
5.3 POLLINATORS,
POLLINATION AND GOOD
QUALITY OF LIFE
5.3.1 Good quality of life and
categories of values
Pollinators support numerous categories of value that
contribute to good quality of life (Table 5-2). Here we
consider three categories of relational values through a
socio-cultural valuation lens — heritage, aesthetics and
identity — and a further three categories through a holistic
valuation lens — livelihoods, social relations and governance.
5.3.2 Heritage values, pollinators
and pollination (socio-cultural
valuation)
Heritage can be understood as tangible physical objects
and places that are passed between generations, and
intangible aspects such as language or practices. Historical
features, practices and places are considered heritage
Co-produced case example
Underpinned by direct
interactions with indigenous
and local knowledge-holders
“In many cases insects like bees and butterflies that we used
to see in great quantities in our communities are not there
anymore. Regarding food production, we have lost our people’s
tradition seeds and propagules because the work of the
pollinators has been affected. Our knowledge has been eroded
by the impact of climate change in our communities, related to
the loss of traditional seeds and propagules.”
“Many women in different places traditionally manage and
control the seeds and propagules, but this is decreasing.
Now women are working to recover IK and use seeds (which
require pollination) as well as propagules, for example, in the
processing of yuca (Manihot esculenta). In Colombia, a group
of Witoto (Huitoto) women working to recuperate traditional
seeds are running a restaurant that sells traditional cuisine …
they’ve developed a fruit ice cream [that provides income].
In other words, they are developing projects to support
biocultural diversity, [including seeds requiring pollination, not
just vegetative propagation]. In Guatemala, Mayan women are
working on orchid production, encouraging pollination. In El
Salvador, they are working with petals of the veranera flower
to produce a medicinal syrup. We are also working with young
people. In sum, we are innovating with IK, looking for ways to
improve traditional techniques …Pollination is very important.”