Nauta (Peru) Municipal Ordinance: rights of stingless bees

Summary

On December 22, 2025, the Provincial Municipality of Nauta-Loreto approved a local ordinance recognizing the rights of native stingless bees, making Loreto the second region in Peru to do so. The ordinance establishes that stingless bees have the fundamental right to exist and flourish in a healthy environment, without pollution, habitat loss, climate change, human activity or other threats getting in the way of their survival.

Stingless bees are the oldest bee species on the planet. About half of the world’s 500 known species live in the Amazon, and Peru is home to at least 175 species. The bees play vital roles in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest ecosystem and are responsible for pollinating more than 80% of the flora, including crops like cacao, coffee ,and avocados. They also hold deep cultural and spiritual meaning for the Amazon Indigenous Asháninka and Kukama-Kukamiria peoples, reflecting their coexistence with the rainforest and Indigenous traditional knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

The ordinance follows an earlier Declaration of the Rights of Stingless Bees passed by the municipality of Satipo, Peru in October 2025. Satipo’s ordinance is the first time any government has recognized the rights of an insect, and the first legal recognition of bee rights worldwide. Both ordinances build on a national law passed in 2024 that granted protections to the native bees and acknowledged them as species of economic importance. Until then, only European honeybees (Apis mellifera) were protected under Peruvian law.

This project is led by Amazon Research Internacional in collaboration with Peruvian scientist and stingless bee expert Cesar Delgado and the Earth Law Center, and is expanded by long-standing collaborations and engagement with Peruvian Amazonian indigenous communities including the Kukama-Kukamiria Indigenous Communities of Nauta.

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