Honey Bee Alliance Project
By Carlos Sanchez
Objective: To establish a group of concerned citizens for the care and conservation of honey bees that are being affected by various human activities, like contamination due to the use of insecticides, herbicides, and other poisons that are being spread into the atmosphere. On the other hand, they are also being affected by civil protection groups who are tasked with protecting the local citizens and because of their lack of training and knowledge they are killing the bees and as such they are destroying these creatures and at the same time they are destroying the natural resources that are necessary for maintaining a healthy population.
The project’s objective is based on my experiences gathered throughout the years working as a beekeeper and l have detected that the problem has increased over the last several decades. Be assured that it is urgent that we take concrete actions to stop this mortality. Unfortunately, the honeybees are yet to have a group dedicated to protecting them. Since we do not want them to ever get close to being in danger of going extinct, it is necessary to start one of these types of groups. By doing this, we hope to save the bees and begin to create new sources of work for the local population. If we don’t act, the bees will continue to die and we will lose a great natural resource.
That is why we believe that it is of vital importance to create one of these types of groups because that way our action will be decisive to better protect the bees and also, to be able to take advantage of their products and generosity for a healthy lifestyle. In this way, the main objective is for a short, medium, and long-term conservation and to utilize the bees as an invaluable natural resource that must be protected for their great value as pollinators and transmitters of life.
What we hope to achieve is the conservation of the bees, and next the creation of jobs by establishing beehive rescue groups. Once we begin rescuing the hives, the bees, in all due time, will naturally begin producing their products which are honey, pollen, etc. And from there, the rescue groups will be able to start generating their own resources so as to become self-sufﬁcient.
As we achieve our goals, we will begin documenting our work through videos and photos that the groups can use in presentations they will give to the local community detailing their day to day activities. We will also publish this information in newspapers, local magazines and maybe one day have our own website to inform the rest of the community the importance of creating similar groups.
The materials and tools we need to execute the project are: Beekeeper’s gear which includes overalls, gloves, boots, smokers, face mask, and a means of transportation that in given time may be individual or collective. The project will be located primarily within the municipality of Chapala, and if the situation permits, in the future it may spread to surrounding municipalities. A building in the Las Redes neighborhood of Chapala will be used as a base for the group.
Our activities will primarily consist of training the group in how to rescue beehives and next they will be ready to take calls from the local population who are in need of their assistance. The group will maintain contact with Civil Protection authorities, and they will supply them with personnel specialized in bees. The bees that are to be rescued will be taken to previously established locations and placed in boxes for their care and conservation and in due time, the bees in question, will produce their products and for this activity we will need more personnel (it will be necessary to obtain additional workers and equipment prior to carrying out such an operation.) This is how we plan on generating resources for our already established groups.
The essential resources that we will need to protect the bees are boxes to place the hives in which the groups may either build or purchase them, we will also need tools such as saws and hammers, etc. The human resources that are