In Issue 42

Dear friends

Our title banner carries the legend ‘The journal for sustainable beekeeping’. We promote beekeeping that meets current needs without adversely affecting future generations of bees or their food plants.

This has benefits for humans too. We want our own future generations to see as many bee species and as much habitat as we do today. Sustainable beekeeping has to be the goal because we do not know, and dare not risk the consequences of eliminating plant-pollinating insects.

In some parts of the world, beekeeping is becoming increasingly difficult. Steve Balogh’s article on pages four and five presents some the real problems now facing beekeepers. Introduced honeybee diseases, and introduced Africanized bees, mean that each colony of honeybees requires more management. When this happens beekeeping becomes more labour-intensive and therefore expensive. This is bad scenario for US beekeepers who have developed highly intensive beekeeping practices

Meanwhile ‘experts’ have once more tried to introduce temperate zone honeybees into (tropical) West Africa. Read about this latest and fortunately unsuccessful project on pages ten and eleven.

B&D obviously needs to promote sustainable beekeeping more vigorously!

Nicola Bradbear

Bees for Development

1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK Tel: +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org www.beesfordevelopment.org