Rome - There are around 20.000 bee species in the world. Amongst these, there are 11 known species of honeybee and countless types of stingless bees. Even though the diversity of honey-producing bees is great, the market is dominated by only one species: Apis mellifera, or Western Honey Bee. Other bee species’ products are overlooked and not recognized by international standards, even if they are of paramount importance for Indigenous Peoples and they play fundamental ecosystemic roles. 

Apis mellifera are present in every continent apart from Antarctica. Its dissemination has been driven, at least in part, by the economics of pollination and honey production. But there are many more species of bees that generate honey, and Indigenous Peoples mostly consume bee products created by these wild species. 

As of today, honey and other bee products from bees that are not Apis mellifera are neither recognized nor included in international food safety standards, such as the Codex Alimentarius. Indigenous Peoples have requested FAO to advocate for the importance of their honey and other bee products, not only for their food quality but also for the role these wild, non-Apis mellifera bees play in biodiversity conservation. 

Wild bees are deeply connected to their ecosystems. There are thousands of plant species that can only be pollinated by them. It is only recently that researchers started to understand the role of non-Apis mellifera bees for biodiversity conservation, and many of the ecosystem services they provide are yet to be discovered. The protection of bees’ diversity is fundamental, and Indigenous Peoples play a central role in it. 

Besides gathering wild honey in sustainable ways, contributing to biodiversity preservation, many Indigenous Peoples' food and knowledge systems are intertwined with bees and their products. Not only wild bees are a source of nutrition and medicine, but they also hold an important cultural and cosmogonic value. 

For example, for the San People of the Kalahari Desert a bee is at the center of their creation story. The Yacuna People in Colombia worship the god Je’chu, that first created bees so that their wax would cure the world and protect the lie that would have been created afterwards. 

The NO-Honey Bar at the UNGIYF advocating for non-Apis mellifera products  

At the UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNGIYF), held in Rome in October 2023, the Keystone Foundation set up a “NO-Honey Bar” to showcase honey from wild bee species. The items are called “NO honey” because they are currently forbidden on international food markets. It is not only Indigenous honey that faces bans and restrictions to access to markets, but this holds true for a wide range of other Indigenous Peoples’ foods.  

The UNGIYF NO-honey bar also gathered wild honey samples brought by the Forum’s participants. 33 types of honey harvested in all the seven socio-cultural regions of the world had been collected and displayed at the bar, together with the Indian wild honey samples provided by Keystone Foundation. 

Besides the honey tasting, different activities took place at the NO-honey bar, including expert presentations on the ecological and cultural role of bees, on the modern-day beekeeping challenges and on Indigenous Peoples’ ways of gathering bees’ products. 

The spotlight was on the nutrition, care for biodiversity, and sustainability in the way the no-honey products are harvested and prepared; why the methods are ecological and resilient; and the related cultural and spiritual practices. 

Having the NO-Honey Bar at the UNGIYF is part of a drive for the recognition of Indigenous wild honey and non-Apis mellifera products in the Codex Alimentarius. Next year, FAO will hold an international conference on Indigenous bee products.  

Participants at the UNGIYF gathered around the NO-Honey Bar to sample the wild bee products, where they were able to get a real flavour for Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems. And the question hung in the air – what is the world missing out on by preventing Indigenous Peoples’ food products from entering the international food trade?  

As climate change and multiple crises wreak havoc on food systems across the globe, the potential benefits of allowing knowledge and methods that have worked in harmony with changing global conditions for millennia would appear to be high.  

About the Keystone Foundation 

Since 1993, the Keystone Foundation has been utilising its expertise and network in bees, honey-hunters and beekeepers in the Nilgiris, in India and all over the world.