ABSTRACT
Bees play a pivotal role in agriculture development, maintaining biodiversity and promoting sustainable livelihoods including food security. Nevertheless, the potential of beekeeping is not fully exploited in forestry activities and development programs because information on the benefits of beekeeping has not been explicitly disseminated to stakeholders. Farmers and other stakeholders in the forestry sector should be well informed and convinced to accept beekeeping as a viable commercial and protective measure to be prioritized and integrated into sustainable forest management (SFM) and other development strategies. Beekeeping belongs to an enterprise where managers are the beekeepers and workers are the bees. This makes it one of the simple, time-saving and low-cost enterprise that could be afforded by people with different financial situations. There is evidence of the decline in the population of pollinating insects, including bees, on the planet due to unsustainable forest management practices that disturb these insects' lifecycles. It is important for SFM stakeholders to understand the environmental, socioeconomic and sociocultural utilities (goods and services) generated by beekeeping in order to identify possible interrelationships between them. Through this understanding, SFM stakeholders could come up with watertight interconnected programs and strategies that could enhance their value.
AUTHOR AFFILIATIONS
1 Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CARDESA), Plot 4701 Mmaraka Road, Private Bag 00357, Gaborone, Botswana
2 Agriculture and Environmental Consultant, Herefords Matfuntini Near New School, P.O. Box 7514-Manzini-M200, Eswatini
CITATION
Dlamini C and Dlamini S (2024) Role of Apiculture in Sustainable Livelihoods, Socio-economic Development and Improving Ecosystem Services. Environ Sci Arch 3(2): 12-19.
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