The historic ruling recognizes the ecosystemic value of bees.
For the first time in history, the ecological importance of bees is recognized and for inhabitants of indigenous communities who have a close relationship with beekeeping, this is a great achievement because they will demand more efficient actions from state authorities for the protection of these pollinating insects.
Leydy Araceli Pech Martín, Mayan beekeeper and member of the Mayan Alliance for the Kaabnalo’on Bees, shared that since 2012 they have been involved in the defense of their territory and this defense also includes bees, especially because they face serious problems due to the establishment of megaprojects.
“We have filed complaints and injunctions for the massive death of bees because bees die every day and this is due to a production model that demands today and does not consider the care of bees and the damages faced by communities,” she said.
Therefore, the alliance’s commitment has always been to ask for justice. So since May 19, 2023, they filed an injunction in which they demanded the recognition and protection of bees, and precisely in a historic ruling, Mónica Vianney Pereda Gutiérrez, the Fourth District Judge of the Auxiliary Center of the Fifth Region with residence in Culiacán, Sinaloa granted a favorable injunction to recognize the ecological importance of bees.
“The ruling says that bees are recognized for their ecological and social importance. In our country, something like this had not happened and with this, bees will now be incorporated into environmental programs,” he added.
In this regard, researcher Jaime González Tolentino, from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur) described that there is an urgency to protect bees because in a study they did in Ich Ek and Suc Tuc, in Hopelchén; In Crucero Oxá in Campeche and in Tizimín, Yucatán, they documented more than 6 thousand dead hives and this implied a massive death of bees, which translated into losses of 13 million pesos between 2020 and 2023.
This was mainly due to deforestation, with Hopelchén even being one of the most deforested municipalities in Mexico, and also to the increase in industrial agriculture and the use of pesticides such as fipronil and neonicotinoids.
Regarding this ruling that is considered favorable, lawyer Jorge Fernández Mendiburu explained that it is precisely the federal and state authorities that have allowed the massive death of bees, for which a fight has been undertaken for more than 15 years.
“Now we are not only talking about the economic relationship with bees but also about an ecosystemic importance as a pollinator and also a cultural relationship because beekeeping is a pre-Hispanic practice,” he said.
This resolution implies that people from Mayan communities related to bees will be able to ask for effective measures and on this, Itzel Pech of the Kaabnalo’on Alliance, explained that this resolution binds the presidency of the Republic through the secretariats of Rural Development (Sader), Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and the Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Energy (Semabicce) of the government of Campeche, as well as the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) and the National Service for Health, Safety and Food Quality (Senasica).
These bodies must then implement actions to combat the serious crisis that has generated the mortality of bees:
- Total prohibition of agrotoxins such as fipronil and neonicotinoids, which are already banned in much of Europe.
- Fully apply the decree that restricts the use of glyphosate.
- Ban aerial spraying that puts bees and the ecosystem at risk.
- Investigate and sanction illegal deforestation that has devastated the region.
- Establish a participatory program with local communities to create biological corridors and restore affected ecosystems.
- Declare bees as subjects of rights and recognize Mayan communities as their guardians, under their ancestral and cultural relationship.
It should be remembered that 27 percent of the volume of products produced on the solar and in the Milpa depend on pollinators.
With information from anec.org.mx/
TYT Newsroom
