News

Rodrigues

At the Care-Co Rehabilitation workshop, the economic and financial challenges following the Covid pandemic remain a pre-occupation as the sales of our goods and services slowly recover and gain momentum with the arrival of visitors to the island once again.

The beekeeping and honey department has been hit further by weather events. The island has suffered from drought conditions since September and the summer rain did not start until January with heavy downpours in various parts of the island.

This relief was too late for the honey flow, and we suffered a dearth again on the much needed, and sought after, Care-Co ‘Miel la Caz’.

There is honey on the island from other beekeepers, but the general situation cannot be compared to the plentiful honey harvests that we saw in past years. The weather is a factor, there is no doubt, but there must be other reasons why the bees are finding difficulty in producing honey.

Paul Draper, Care-Co & the Trevor Huddleston Association for the Disabled (Rodrigues), Camp du Roi

India

As a part of our collaboration with the UN FAO Mountain Partnership, we are releasing a special set of honeys and lip balms with tags that share information and stories about why Nilgiri mountain producers—and their montane forest honey and beeswax—are so special. Mountains are crucial hotspots for climate and conservation action. More than half of humanity relies on mountain water for everyday life, the Nilgiris included. With these tags we hope to highlight the significance and stories of mountains and the communities that belong to them. Many thanks to UN Mountains Matter and FAO for collaborating with us to promote education on mountain climates, mountain environmental labour, and mountain traditions. These editions can be found exclusively in our Green Shops. Source: Last Forest Newsletter, March 2023 (Last Forest - garner.nurture.conserve)

Bees for Development Resource Centre and Distribution Hubs

Vincent has been advised to sign up to our Resource Centre to have access to all editions of Bees for Development Journal digitally, directly online, accessible via low-bandwidth connections and downloadable as a pdf – all completely free of charge.

Bees for Development Resource Centre

We appreciate that not everyone can access the internet and are establishing a network of international Distribution Hubs in co-operation with organisations that actively promote sustainable beekeeping, where paper copies are available, free of charge.

Ethiopia Bees for Development Ethiopia, Bahir Dar

Ghana Bees for Development Ghana, Saltpond

India Keystone Foundation, Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu Under the Mango Tree (UTMT) Society, Mumbai

Nigeria Modern Beekeeping Extension, Kano State

Trinidad & Tobago Bees for DevelopmentJ T&T Hub, Mesopotamia

Uganda The Uganda National Apicultural Development Organisation (TUNADO), Kampala

Zimbabwe Working for Bees, Rusape

Copies of Bees for Development Journal are handed out at local and national beekeeping events and are freely available for pick-up.

If you are in any of these countries and would like printed copies of Bees for Development Journal, email info@ beesfordevelopment.org

We continue to work with our partners in other countries and regions to establish more Hubs and will provide details as these are confirmed. Please contact us if you wish to help with distributing the Journal by becoming a Hub.

Nigeria

On April 11 Akande Ayoade from Nigeria wrote to tell us that his colleagues in Nigeria held a conference at the start of the month where students were introduced to beekeeping and Bees for Development Journals were distributed.

Zambia

I run a small farm in Serenje. I have twenty local-style bark hives. My wife and I run a project for orphans who have lost their parents from HIV AIDS. We teach them beekeeping. Receiving Bees for Development Journal would help us with this.

Happy World Beekeeping Day!

World Bee Day is on 20 May, with beekeeping events to educate the public about the importance of bees and beekeeping. With special emphasis on the role of bees as pollinators and how they help to revive forest cover. World Bee Day informs how to protect bees and other insect pollinators.

The Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association took the initiative for establishing World Beekeeping Day, now celebrated by environmentalists all over the world.

Do tell us about the events you organise to celebrate World Bee Day! info@beesfordevelopment.org