Les abeilles de cette ruche butinent les ressources florales de paysages façonnés par l'élevage pastoral (Mont Lozère, Parc National des Cévennes) © Cécile Barnaud
BECO - Consortium 2021 / 2022
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BECO - Consortium 2021 / 2022

Bees and consultation. Reconciling beekeeping, agriculture and biodiversity: floral resources seen as a common good to be managed collectively

As a result of changes in farming practices, climate change and the increasing number of beekeepers and apiaries, tensions are emerging around floral resources, i.e. the nectar and pollen used by the bees. Long considered to be unlimited, these floral resources seem to be the object of a competition, both inter-specific between wild and domestic bees and intra-specific between domestic bees. This leads us to consider these floral resources as a common good to be managed collectively, involving not only beekeepers and biodiversity managers, but also the farmers who shape these landscapes and whose practices influence the availability of floral resources.

Les abeilles de cette ruche butinent les ressources florales de paysages façonnés par l'élevage pastoral (Mont Lozère, Parc National des Cévennes)
© © Cécile Barnaud

The BECO project aims to better understand the interactions between beekeeping, agriculture and the conservation of wild bees at landscape level, through the lens of floral resources, i.e. the nectar and pollen used by bees. The project is based on a mountainous case study, the Cévennes National Park, and will support a multi-stakeholder collaborative process on these issues.

Approach

To further understand these issues and the associated socio-ecological systems, the BECO project will develop a transdisciplinary approach combining (i) spatial ecology to measure and characterise competition between bees over floral resources, (ii) landscape ecology to assess the impact of agricultural practices on landscapes and floral resources, (iii) social sciences to understand and support social interactions around the management of this common good, and (iv) the involvement of key stakeholders (beekeepers, farmers, park managers) in a process of knowledge co-construction.

Resources

This consortium has three components. The first aims to further understand the local context, build the partnership with the National Park and foster co-construction : conducting interviews with beekeepers and farmers, organising discussion and co-construction meetings with the park's partners, running collective workshops bringing together local stakeholders (beekeepers, farmers, park staff) and scientists to build a shared diagnosis of the issues and needs in terms of knowledge and support. The second part aims to design an innovative conceptual framework for thinking of floral resources as a common good and to analyse the obstacles and levers to concerted management of these floral resources. The third part of the project will focus on networking between the scientists in the consortium, and with other researchers, in order to create a research community on these issues.

INRAE units involved

External partnerships

 

Contact - Coordinator :

Modification date: 19 October 2023 | Publication date: 12 May 2022 | By: Com