Melipona beecheii

by Roger D. Jones, Vía Orgánica

Arturo Carrillo:
• is an activist defending indigenous rights, the environment, and pollinators in the fields of graphic and audiovisual communication, networking, media, community organizing, planning, and strategic litigation
• is a member of the Ma OGM Collective and the National Class Action Lawsuit, which have successfully halted the planting of genetically modified soy and corn in Mexico
• coordinates the National Beekeeping Alliance, which brings together more than 300 organizations from across the country and seeks to contribute to the development and implementation of public policy and legislation in favor of beekeeping and pollinators
• coordinates the Honey Authenticity Network internationally, whose objective is to halt the global trade in fake honey through scientific, media, and legal actions
• leads the "Conversion Project towards Sustainable Agriculture of the Mayan and Mennonite Communities of the Yucatan Peninsula"
• during 2023 and 2024, coordinated the Billion Agave Project, an international initiative that seeks to contribute to the regeneration and care of the environment and the community economy, through the implementation of sustainable productive projects around agaves.

Roger Jones, Vía Orgánica: Many say that pesticides and agricultural chemicals are among the greatest threats to bee health. From your experience, what are the most urgent toxins bees face today, and what steps can communities take to protect them?

Arturo Carrillo: Indeed, pesticides are one of the main threats to the survival of bees, and they largely explain Colony Collapse Disorder. According to the Pesticide Action Network, there are 117 highly hazardous pesticides for bees worldwide.¹ Of these, 82 have been approved for use in Mexico by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks.²

However, the most lethal pesticides are those from the phenylpyrazolin family, such as fipronil, and neonicotinoids, such as imidacloprid, whose lethality to bees is, respectively, 6,475 and 7,297 times higher than that of DDT.³ Regarding the steps to follow, many communities, organizations and individuals related to beekeeping and the environment have already undertaken various actions using the methodology known as comprehensive defense, which basically consists of the coordination of four types of actions:

• Legal actions. These consist of filing lawsuits against actual or potential damages of a productive, environmental, cultural, or economic nature. Some examples include lawsuits against the planting of genetically modified organisms, deforestation, the use of pesticides highly dangerous to bees, and beekeepers' labor rights.

• Communication actions. These consist of producing and disseminating informational materials through the media and social networks to raise awareness about the issue of bees.

• Public policy actions. These consist of developing and promoting proposals before the three levels of government and the three branches of government that protect and strengthen bee populations.

• Networking actions. These consist of creating connections and working mechanisms with other communities, organizations, and individuals to enrich and strengthen the protection of bees.

Dead bees
*

Poisoned bees
*

RJ: The global market has been flooded with counterfeit or diluted honey, hurting both beekeepers and consumers. How does this problem affect bee populations and rural economies, and what solutions might exist to protect authentic honey?

AC: Well, the first thing to note is that while the international price of a metric ton of authentic honey is around US$3,800, the average price of adulterant syrups is around US$500, a price seven times lower. This allows fake honey to be sold at significantly lower prices than the authentic honey. Therefore, the large-scale falsification and adulteration of honey causes international prices to plummet, leaving beekeepers out of competition and forcing them to abandon beekeeping, which is one of the main drivers of bee preservation and pollination. A peer-reviewed article⁴ published in 2015 shows that low honey prices are the main threat to bees, even surpassing pesticides and pests. This is because, although beekeepers lose hives due to pesticides or other threats and honey is well-priced, they work hard and recover the lost hives. However, if the price drops to a level that is no longer attractive, producers go bankrupt and abandon the hives.

The lack of the ideal conditions that beekeepers provide for bees to thrive leaves bees helpless in the face of an increasingly adverse environment, full of threats such as pesticides, climate change, pests, and deforestation, among others, which causes the loss of countless colonies. This results in the loss of a large part of one of the most valuable environmental services for the environment and food production: pollination.

Many producers around the world are indigenous and depend on the income generated by beekeeping, and the low prices of honey affect their already precarious economies.

To combat the trade in fake honey, some beekeeping groups—like us, the Honey Authenticity Network—are taking national and international action using the same comprehensive defense methodology as for pesticides.

Furthermore, since it's nearly impossible for the average consumer to determine the authenticity of honey, my advice, if you want to avoid consuming fake honey, is to avoid buying the cheapest brands on the shelf, because they're almost certainly fake.

Fake honey
*

RJ: Changing weather patterns, droughts, and land-use practices are altering flowering cycles and natural habitats. How are climate change and human expansion shaping bee health and pollination networks?

AC: This has been very well studied and reported⁵ by the world's leading group of experts on the subject, that climate change affects bee health primarily by altering their synchronized relationship with plants. We have seen this particularly strongly in flowering periods on the Yucatan Peninsula, which also impacts beekeeping. Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns cause some plants to bloom earlier or later than usual. This creates a mismatch between the time flowers are ready to be pollinated and the time bees are active in foraging for nectar and pollen. This mismatch means bees may not find sufficient food resources, weakening colonies and making them more vulnerable to disease. Furthermore, heat waves and droughts reduce the quantity and quality of available nectar, exacerbating the problem of food shortages.

Furthermore, human expansion destroys and fragments bees' natural habitats. The advance of urbanization and the agricultural frontier, where, as I mentioned before, pesticides lethal to bees are used, are replacing forests and grasslands with concrete or monoculture plantations that offer little floral diversity. This habitat loss limits the places where bees can nest and find food, forcing them to travel longer distances to survive.

Finally, when bees and other pollinators weaken and their populations decline, the pollination network is compromised. This not only affects bees but also the health of ecosystems in general. In addition, inefficient pollination reduces the production of fruits, vegetables, and seeds, affecting human food security and the reproduction of many wild plants, which can lead to a loss of biodiversity. In essence, the bee crisis is a sign that the health of our ecosystems is at risk.

Flooded Hives
*

RJ: Despite the threats, what gives you the most hope when you look at the resilience of bees and the people working to protect them?

AC: Of course, there is always hope, although frankly, for now, it seems minimal to me. While it is a fact that global awareness of the importance of pollinators, and especially bees, has increased significantly and that this has been translated into legal and regulatory instruments in several countries, it is also a fact that the positive changes achieved so far are only cosmetic. Aside from the ban on three neonicotinoids and fipronil in the European Union since 2013, there have been no far-reaching measures to protect pollinators; on the contrary, climate change and habitat loss have worsened.

Let me give you an example. In Mexico, through the National Beekeeping Alliance, the organization I coordinate, we've been working since 2021 to enact a national law for the protection and sustainable use of pollinators. However, despite making significant progress, bureaucracy and political timing have prevented us from achieving this. For now, we'll likely only be able to include protection for pollinators through a reform to the General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection. This would be an important step forward, because, to date, the word "pollinator" doesn't exist in the Mexican federal legal framework. However, the entire regulatory framework and the development and implementation of public policy would still be needed for this protection to have concrete effects. As you can imagine, the horizon still seems distant. The positive side is that I also see many people who never tire of trying to build a better world for pollinators.

Hopelchén demonstration against GMOs and deforestation
*

RJ: How can regenerative farming and projects like Vía Orgánica serve as safe havens for bees, and how might bees in turn strengthen these systems?

AC: Regenerative agriculture, and in particular projects like Vía Orgánica's Billion Agave Project, are a key solution to the crisis facing pollinators. It's not just about growing food, but about restoring entire ecosystems, creating true sanctuaries for bees.

Conventional industrial agriculture creates so-called green deserts for bees: monocultures without floral diversity where pesticides are used. In contrast, regenerative practices focus on soil health and biodiversity.

This results in a landscape teeming with life, with a wide variety of plants, ensuring a constant and diverse source of nectar and pollen for bees year-round. By avoiding pesticides, we eliminate the risk of pollution that weakens and kills bees. Soil regeneration also protects the underground nests of most wild bee species, which are crucial for pollination.

The Billion Agave Project is a perfect example of how this works in practice. This project seeks to plant one billion agaves, a resilient crop with infinite uses. Why agave? In addition to being a low-water crop with almost zero agricultural input requirements, its flowering produces abundant and nutritious nectar that attracts and sustains a wide variety of pollinators, including bees, bats, and birds. By planting rows of agave in semi-arid areas, the project creates biological corridors that connect habitat fragments, allowing pollinators to move safely. These corridors act as floral "highways," helping them find food and shelter.

Ideally, the Billion Agave Project could be replicated in most arid and semi-arid areas around the world; this would regenerate biodiversity, sequester carbon, and offer a way to improve people's socioeconomic conditions.

Billion Agave Project
*

RJ: If you could imagine a future where humans and bees truly thrive together, what does that relationship look like to you?

AC: The best answer to that question I heard from a mutual friend Roger, Jesús León Santos, an indigenous Mixtec activist who won the 2008 Goldman Prize, considered the Nobel Prize for the environment. He said that humans are currently very disconnected, even divorced from nature, and that in order to live in harmony with the environment, it is essential to spiritually reconnect with our natural surroundings, since we can only deeply respect, protect, and care for what we love from the depths of our soul. For me, his words mean making the pollinators, bees and nature my family. And I'm happy because I believe I'm achieving that. I hope everyone else achieves it too.

Kam sac - scaptotrigona pectoralis
*

RJ: Thank you, Arturo. Your insights inspire and help us learn about the challenges bees face today as well as the possibilities bees carry for the future of our ecosystems and communities. We see better not only what's at stake, and also the beauty.

Contact:
arturo.carrillo@honeyap.org
www.honeyap.org

___________________________________________

1. PAN International List of Highly Hazardous Pesticides, 2024 — PAN International List PDF
2. Bejarano, F., et al. Los plaguicidas altamente peligrosos en México. Red de Acción sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en México, A. C. 2017.
3. Pisa, L.W., Amaral-Rogers, V., Belzunces, L.P., et al. Effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on non-target invertebrates, Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 68–102, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3471-x
4. Moritz R., Erler, S., 2015, Lost colonies found in a data mine: Global honey trade but not pests or pesticides as a major cause of regional honeybee colony declines, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
5. IPBES (2016). The assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on pollinators, pollination and food production. S.G. Potts, V. L. Imperatriz-Fonseca, and H. T. Ngo (eds). Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Bonn, Germany. 552 pages — IPBES Summary PDF

***

Rancho Vía Orgánica is an organic regenerative ranch located in the Jalpa Valley just 15 minutes from the Luciérnaga Mall. Open every day, it is a working ranch, seed bank, restaurant, education center, and home to the Billion Agave Project.

www.viaorganica.org

***************

Roger D. Jones has been living in San Miguel for 43 years, married to Rosana Alvarez, a local woman and a co-founder of Vía Orgánica, for 40 of those. Roger is a community organizer, who is happily living The Mexican Dream.

Discover Lokkal:
Watch the two-minute video below.
Then, just below that, scroll down SMA's Community Wall.
Mission

Visit SMA's Social Network

Contact / Contactar