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

The BECO project aimed to better understand the interactions between beekeeping, agriculture, and wild bee conservation at the landscape level, through the lens of the floral resources used by bees. It focused on a mountain area, the Cévennes National Park, and supported emerging processes of dialogue and collective action on these issues.

Approaches

To advance understanding of these challenges and their associated socio-ecological systems, BECO developed a transdisciplinary approach that combined:

• Spatial ecology to measure and characterize competition between bees over floral resources,
• Landscape ecology to assess the impact of farming practices on landscapes and floral resources,
• Social sciences to understand and facilitate social interactions around the management of this common good,
• Participatory approaches involving local actors from the Cévennes National Park to co-produce actionable knowledge.

Two PhD theses were carried out within the project, in partnership with the Cévennes National Park.

• Léo Mouillard-Lample’s thesis (defended in December 2023), focused on competition between wild and managed bees, examined interactions between beekeeping and wild bee conservation, starting from the question: to what extent is it relevant to view floral resources as a common good?
• Gabriel Gonella’s thesis (defended in January 2025), centered on interactions between beekeeping and farming through floral resources, sought to identify barriers and levers for creating agricultural landscapes rich in floral resources that support beekeeping.

Results

From an ecological perspective, field surveys suggest that competition between bees does indeed occur in the study area—meaning that floral resources can be considered common goods in ecological terms. From a social perspective, while most beekeepers report not perceiving such competition, interviews show that representations are evolving, and some beekeeping practices are starting to limit competition. A role-playing game (Agorapi serious game) was developed and tested in the Cévennes National Park to foster collective reflection among beekeepers and land managers on innovative, collaborative ways to manage floral resources at the landscape scale.

The analysis of semi-structured interviews with beekeepers and farmers in Mont Lozère shed light on beekeepers’ rationales, the floral resources they rely on, and the impacts of farming systems on these resources. The floral resources used by beekeepers are threatened by dominant agricultural development trends—intensification of farming practices in cultivated areas and extensification of grazing in rangelands. By contrast, “frugal” farming systems—based on low inputs, modest investments, and labor-intensive practices such as intensive use of pastures—prove to be the most favorable to floral resources.

The social dimension of beekeeper–farmer interactions (mutual representations, relationships) reveals that they mainly interact around access to floral resources through the search for hive locations, and very little around the production of these resources.

A simplified and transferable version of the AGORAPI game is currently being developed for dissemination to potential users (nature managers and beekeeping organizations).

Participants

INRAE units involved

• UMR DYNAFOR - Dynamiques et écologie des paysages agriforestiers
• UR Abeilles et Environnement - SFR Tersys / Avignon Université / CNRS

Partners

• Itsap - Institut de l’abeille  
• UMR Sens - Savoirs, Environnement et Sociétés - Cirad
• Parc National des Cévennes