Tip | Learn more about bees and honey: “What if bees did not exist?”

The “Save Bees and Farmers!” European Citizens’ Initiative alliance is a growing network of currently over 140 environmental NGOs, farmer and beekeeper organisations, charitable foundations and scientific institutions distributed throughout the European Union, working together to reconcile agriculture, health and biodiversity.

Source: The “Save Bees and Farmers!” European Citizens’ Initiative
URL: https://www.savebeesandfarmers.eu/eng/about-us/
Date visited: 4 August 2020

The role of bees in any economy is well understood, and the disappearance of indigenous bee populations is alarming to scientists all over the world:

Bees are some of nature’s most fascinating creatures, they are also incredibly important. Their intimate dependency relationship with plants makes bees a crucial component of successful ecosystems the world over. As primary producers, plants are fundamental to life. Plants provide the basis of the food chain for all creatures as well as providing shelter, protection and nesting sites. People utilise plant based natural resources for food, fuel, shelter, useful materials and commercial gain. Plants maintain watersheds, prevent soil erosion and are a factor in climatic stability. Pollination is therefore essential for agriculture and environmental management and a variety of pollinators are required to maintain reproduction across a broad spectrum of flowering plant species. In their turn the pollinators require protection of the plants on which their life depends and the habitats within which these plants grow. The greatest threat to pollinators is unrestrained habitat destruction, degradation or pollution.

Source: Bees for Development Trust (UK): “Conservation & environment”
URL: http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/categories/conservation-environment/
Date visited: 4 August 2020

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The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Forest Rights Act) gives members of tribal communities the right “to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce including bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers.” – Azim Premji University Team

Learn from M S Swaminathan – a world renowned scientist – how biological diversity contributes to public health, people’s livelihood and environmental security in addition to food security: his call on fellow citizens to use and share resources in a more sustainable and equitable manner; outlining the long journey from the 1992 Earth Summit to a commitment to foster inherited knowledge through India’s Biodiversity Act and Genome Saviour Award; an award intended to reward those who are “primary conservers” – guardians of biological diversity!

More about the work of his foundation which “aims to accelerate use of modern science and technology for agricultural and rural development to improve lives and livelihoods of communities.” – www.mssrf.org | Regarding the issues of food security raised above, and the nutritional value of indigenous grains, seeds and millets, read an in-depth report that concludes that “the tribal food basket has always been ­diverse and nutritious” >>

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Search tips: in the search field seen below, combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community; add keywords of special interest (health, nutrition endangered language, illegal mining, sacred grove); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the Forest Rights Act (FRA); and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, women’s rights, and children’s right to education; specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, effective measures to prevent rural poverty, bonded labour, and human trafficking).

For a list of websites included in a single search, click here. To search Indian periodicals, magazines, web portals and other sources safely, click here. To find an Indian PhD thesis on a particular tribal community, region and related issues, click here >>

“Together, we must endeavour to strengthen tribal communities which are the role model in preservation of water, forest and land, and learn from their connection with nature and the surrounding environment for the sake of the entire human race.” – journalist and tribal rights activist Dayamani Barla in The Wire >>