Ecuador Municipal Ordinance: honor and conservation of native stingless bees (Meliponini)

Summary

In 2021, the municipal government of Puyango Canton in Ecuador approved an ordinance that supports conservation efforts for native stingless bees (Meliponini) and honors them as intangible natural heritage. Meliponini in Ecuador face threats from climate change, loss of biodiversity, and habitat disruption from human activities.

The legal authorities of Puyango’s ordinance for Meloponini include the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and the Organic Code on the Environment, both of which enshrine rights of nature and eco governance principles. The ordinance for Meloponini is part of a broader web of legal provisions in Ecuador designed to protect buen vivir (“good living”), an Indigenous concept that highlights the importance of harmony between humans and nature. Buen vivir promotes the notion of human stewardship, rather than ownership, of the Earth and its resources.

Recognizing the key ecological role of Meliponini, the ordinance declares that “[b]ees are fundamental insects for life, and especially native stingless bees (Meliponini), because they are vectors of pollination of native forests, agroforestry systems, crops, and in general all plants on the planet” (Ordinance Title II, Chapter I, Article 5 of the Ordinance (machine translated by Google)). It also ascribes general, inherent significance to Meliponini, acknowledging “the degree of importance that the Melipona Bees possess, in terms of the environmental, cultural, biological, and identity trait of [Puyango]” (Id. Art. 9 (machine translated by Google)). In addition to such symbolic declarations, the ordinance includes action-oriented provisions for Meliponini conservation, including requirements for institutional involvement, local programming, incentives for meliponiculture (the practice of sustainable management of stingless bees), and sanctions for actions that endanger the bees.

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