POLLINATORS POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION

THE ASSESSMENT REPORT ON POLLINATORS, POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION
CASE EXAMPLE 5-23
BEE RESERVES PROTECTED AND MANAGED BY LOCAL PEOPLE
Location: Tanzania
Traditional forest beekeepers (Hausser and Mpuya, 2004; Hausser and Savary, 2009)
The forests of Inyonga area, located between the Katavi
National Park, Rukwa-Lukwati Game Reserve and Ugalla Game
Reserve, are some of the least disturbed, wild ecosystems
in Africa. Beekeeping is traditionally practiced in the area.
However, immigration and environmentally destructive
activities are posing a threat to these valuable ecosystems.
Those responsible for protecting the area were attempting to
disallow beekeepers access to the protected area, which in
the meantime was being expanded. The Association for the
Development of Protected Areas (ADAP) stepped in to assist the
Government of Tanzania to tackle the problem. Through a multistakeholder
workshop the protected area managers gained a
much clearer appreciation that beekeeping is environmentally
friendly and contributes directly to the effective protection
of the whole ecosystem, whilst generating income for local
communities, and strengthening local knowledge and skills.
‘Goldapis’, a Tanzanian company is marketing bee products
and developing a highly viable income stream to local people.
Bee Reserves were created within the forests that would be
protected and managed by beekeepers for their purposes. This
provides them with a strong incentive to maintain and manage
these forests. The National Beekeeping Policy of Tanzania now
includes the creation of bee reserves as a strategy to continue
to promote beekeeping within the country, while strengthening
forest protection.
330 5.4.6 Management and mitigation
options most relevant to the
pollinator management and
beekeeping sector
5. BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY, POLLINATORS AND
THEIR SOCIO-CULTURAL VALUES
5.4.6.1 Livelihoods and beekeeping
Livelihood approaches, defined here as mechanisms
that support peoples’ direct utilization of pollinators and
pollination resources, can overcome many economic
barriers to effective pollinator protection when they are
able to link: (1) customary economies (that require ongoing
protection of pollinators); (2) markets (that give these
products economic significance in the globalized economy);
and (3) investments from government in accompanying
research, market analysis and brokering, resulting in what
has been termed the “hybrid economy” (Altman, 2007).
Stingless beekeeping activities are clearly important in both
customary and market economies, and are therefore prime
examples where government investments in research and
brokering can be very effective (Lyver et al., 2015). For
example, obtaining organic certification, links to customers
prepared to pay for high-value product in developed
nations, and strengthening of traditional social organisation
and knowledge have greatly improved incomes for
beekeepers in Cameroon (Ingram and Njikeu, 2011) (Case
example 5-24). In the coffee landscapes of Colombia,
producers have obtained the designation as special coffees
by Rainforest Alliance, such as the Café Reinita cerúlea
produced in the Serranía de los Yariguíes, San Vicente,
Santander Colombia. The name of this coffee recognizes
that these ecosystems provide habitat for migratory birds
such as the Reinita Cerúlea (Dendroica cerulea) 26 . The Mesa
26. http://www.proaves.org/alternativas-productivas-para-la-conservacion/.
de los Santos coffee plantation (Santander) is internationally
certified by the Smithsonian Institution as a “bird-friendly
coffee plantation”, because their management is based on
organic agriculture practices (CENICAFÉ, 1999).
Across Latin America various efforts are reviving stingless
beekeeping through the development of techniques to
maintain and reproduce colonies efficiently, to improve the
quality and marketability of products for better economic
rewards, and increase the value of colonies by additional
services such as commercial pollination (Cortopassi-
Laurino et al., 2006). Stingless beekeeping is showing
signs of recovery for various indigenous groups and
local communities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela. Key elements for the
recovery of stingless beekeeping have been: teaching, since
many young people have lost the experience from their
ancestors and elders; respect for the local costumes and
traditions; increased value of products; and development
of a market niche for stingless bees products (Cortopassi-
Laurino et al., 2006).
Among the “quilombola”, a traditional population of
descendants of runaway slaves, or “quilombos”, the
practice of meliponiculture has been carried out for
generations and provides an elaborate ecological knowledge
based on native bees, the melliferous flora and the
management techniques (de Carvalho et al., 2014). Training
courses for the “ribeirinhos”, traditional populations living
near rivers (Kurihara and Cardoso, 2007; Cavalcante et al.,
2009), and indigenous groups from the Amazon region have
been successful in recovering and strengthening stingless
bees rearing practices (Venturieri, 2008a, 2008b). In New
Zealand, the introduced European honey bee production
from Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka trees) that are vital