Dear friends

Our aim is to inform and to inspire you: this edition of the Journal brings you news of beekeeping interventions underway throughout the world: this time in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Europe. For most of you reading this Journal, beekeeping is a sideline activity, one of several, or many, different ways that you create a livelihood. This 'sideline' nature of beekeeping - is one of its strengths, making it possible for many people to keep bees in addition to their other employment, or other home or farming activities. Beekeeping offers great scope for development. The products, honey and beeswax, are commodities for which there are good markets, and if the quality is good enough and the marketing and supply chain work, beekeepers can create good incomes from the bees' work.

Bees for Development wants to help people work their way out of poverty by means of beekeeping. We also aim to help maintain biodiversity by encouraging the sustainable utilisation of bee resources. As you read this Journal, you are joined by beekeepers world-wide, who are interested to broaden their horizons and have a wider understanding of the global beekeeping scene.

Here at Bees for Development we are currently compiling evidence of the value of beekeeping in rural development: please contact us if you have a good story to tell of how beekeeping has helped you and your family. We are always pleased to hear from you!