Brazil Indigenous community protects native stingless bees

Marcio Karai, a 42‑year‑old member of the Guarani community, tends to native Mirim stingless bees on the outskirts of São Paulo. He and his community transfer colonies to new wooden hives as part of daily meliponiculture, caring for 13 varieties of native bees in the Jaraguá Indigenous Territory of the Atlantic Forest.

Karai says elders worry that these pollinators are becoming scarce. While not officially endangered, the bees face threats from climate change, deforestation and pesticide use, which also endanger wild pollinators worldwide. Scientists estimate that 90 % of wild flowering plants and three‑quarters of food crops rely on pollination. Osmar Malaspina, coordinator of an ecotoxicology and bee‑conservation research group at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, notes that agricultural expansion may have already caused the loss of several stingless‑bee species in Brazil.