Campeche (Mexico) Court Case: Ecological and Biocultural Value of Bees

Summary

On May 19, 2023, Mayan beekeepers from Hopelchén, a municipality in the state of Campeche, filed an amparo lawsuit against the federal, state, and municipal governments for enabling the deaths of millions of bees through deforestation and the excessive use of pesticides. The lawsuit alleged that all three governments failed to protect their rights as indigenous peoples, the right to a healthy environment, and argued violations of the rights of nature. They also argued that there was ecological, economic, and cultural damage, as beekeeping has been a pre-Hispanic practice of the various Mayan peoples of the region.

The legal action is part of an ultimate goal to recognize bees as subjects of rights and Mayan communities as their guardians. “Legally declaring bees as subjects of rights and the Mayan people as their guardians would open the door to building, from an ecocentric perspective, a new paradigm where respect for biocultural heritage is the axis of public policy in the region.”

Legal Ruling
On July 10, 2023, the Second District Judge in the State of Campeche ruled in favor of the Mayan beekeepers and required the authorities to implement “all necessary measures to prevent or mitigate the risk to the environment inhabited by bees, taking effective actions to investigate and combat the mass die-off of bees in Hopelchén, as well as to counteract the damage to the areas where the apiaries are located.”

The ruling acknowledges that Indigenous peoples and communities have coexisted for hundreds and thousands of years with different types of vegetation in a constant process of gathering, semi-domestication, and domestication. In particular, the raising of stingless bees for the extraction of honey, pollen, wax, propolis, and other ecological services has been closely linked to Mayan culture, allowing for the reconstruction of a biocultural legacy and promoting the maintenance of ecosystems.

The ruling explicitly recognizes the ecological and biocultural value of bees, highlighting that these pollinators possess intrinsic value and play a crucial role in the balance of ecosystems. To address the harm done to bees, the court granted a definitive suspension on activities that may harm bees and the Mayan biocultural heritage. This ruling prevented authorities from granting authorizations, concessions, and allocations for infrastructure projects that could threaten the biocultural heritage of Hopelchén, including the suspension of deforestation and fumigation.

This 2023 court ruling by the District Court in Campeche was followed by a similar resolution issued by the Fourth District Court in the State of Sinaloa in 2024, which also recognized bees as subjects of rights and established that Mexico must guarantee the human right to a healthy environment, and required the Mexican government to completely ban the use of specified pesticides. Together, both rulings recognize bees as possessing ecological and biocultural value and hold the three levels of Mexican government accountable for preventing mass bee deaths.

Involved Organizations