Bee the change

Please help save bees and other wild pollinators.

These iconic insects are essential to our natural world, yet they are dropping at an alarming rate.

We have been eradicating them for years, taking over their habitat and destroying their homes. Their population is plummeting.

But there is still time.

If we can act now we can still save bees and help the population recover. This is vital – bees play an essential role in stitching together the global landscape that we know today.

That’s why we’re asking for your donations today that could keep them safe. By donating just £10 you could help us purchase valuable beehives that are an essential part of our conservation work.

So please, make a donation today and help save bees.

It has been said that one in every three bites of food we eat depends on pollinators such as bees, butterflies and birds. Bees play a key role in maintaining the balance of ecosystems and are responsible for the reproduction of thousands of plant species. However, these little workers are at risk, facing a whole host of threats globally.

Nearly one in 10 wild bee species faces local extinction.

And with around three-quarters of food crops depending on pollination, the consequences are quite simple – as bees decline, whole supply chains will be put at risk, and there will be terrifying, inevitable knock-on effect for wildlife across the world.

This is why we need your help. We are working with communities in key locations to help promote sustainable beekeeping practices and raise awareness of the importance of pollinators. Your donations can help pay for essential beehives and protective clothing, allowing us to continue our critical work with these communities.

So please, donate now and help us to give these extraordinary creatures the support they need before it is too late.

The vital role they play cannot be taken for granted.

In many countries across the globe, honey is collected from wild nests. However, intensive development and changes in land use, as well as destructive practices such as bee burning, are all threatening these wild pollinator populations.

This fragmentation affects the wider ecological equilibrium; less bees equals less pollination, and less pollination has a devastating effect on fauna and flora around the world.

To help turn this story around, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has been partnering with governing bodies and local communities in selected locations to protect these precious environments.

A great example of this is the Zarand landscape in Romania. Together with Zarand Association, FFI has been promoting beekeeping, a practice that has sadly been in decline as locals increasingly move away from rural villages to earn higher incomes elsewhere.

We have supported the creation of a unique Zarand brand, helping farmers to set apart their products and showcase this pure, premium and Fairtrade honey, thus allowing them to sell their products at a higher price. This also helps consumers recognise that they are buying a more natural, traditionally-produced honey compared to many of the other products on sale.

This work is critical, helping to encourage the local community to value and preserve the wildflower meadows and sustainably managed forests that the bees rely on.

We have also been working on the island of Príncipe, in the Gulf of Guinea. Here, honey is traditionally collected by burning entire nests, killing bees and destroying valuable areas of forest in the process.

Thanks to the hard work of our conservationists and partnership with Fundação Príncipe, this practice is now illegal, however there is still more to be done. We are now working on increasing regulations to prevent illegally extracted honey from entering the market, as well as working with locals to raise awareness of the importance of these pollinators, providing training for alternative, less-destructive methods of honey production.

These projects are key to the success of bees as a species, allowing them to continue their remarkable work pollinating and producing honey from so many magnificent wild flowers and trees.

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is the world’s oldest international conservation charity. Over the last 100 years, we have been on almost every frontline of conservation and literally saved species from extinction. We work to protect plants and animals around the globe – never wasting enormous sums of money on excessive publicity or silly gimmicks – instead spending 94% of our income on charitable activities.