In Issue 87

THE DARWIN INITIATIVE

Long ago in 1992, edition 24 of this Journal reported on The Rio Earth Summit, when the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was born. CBD is now the key global instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

In the UK, the Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural

Affairs (DEFRA) launched the Darwin Initiative, to assist financially poor countries to implement the CBD. To date, the Darwin Initiative has invested £65 million (€85 million, US$124 million) in 601 projects in 146 countries.

One of these projects focuses on bees and is featured in this edition: It is the Bees, Biodiversity and Forest Livelihoods in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve Project. It is being implemented by the Keystone Foundation India, Bees for Development, University of East Anglia, and University of Reading Centre of Agri-Environmental Research, UK. The articles presented here (pages 5-13) have been edited by

Ms Shiny Rehel, Keystone’s Botanist who worked here at the BfD offices in Wales in April, together with Keystone Director Ms Sneh Nath. Their visit to BfD was made possible as part of the Darwin Initiative Project, encouraging working partnerships between organisations in the UK and their collaborators in developing countries.

Nicola Bradbear

Bees for Development

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