Introduction of the President Vincenzo Panettieri:

The bee is the protagonist, on an international scale, of an economic fallout in agriculture of about 224 thousand millions euros, as it grants the reproduction of 71 vegetable species which supply 90% of the world population’s feeding. It is a kind of actual “multinational corporation” of agriculture which has got its directional centres in every single nation, every single territory, every single beekeeper; it brings a significant turnover and financial capital, shared out for the complete and free benefit of the whole humanity, without the payment of prebends or interests.
Essential for our feeding, bees are among the most important factors that contribute to the diversity of the ecosystems of the earth, and for this reason they have to be considered as a structural element which safeguards the biodiversity. In fact, thanks to pollination services, bees are one of the most important resources for the macrosystems which are at the base of our existence: natural, economic and social systems. Beekeeping, besides being a productive activity which generates income, protects our survival, varies our food and supports human development as a process of widening the knowledge of different values and traditions.
Beekeeping has indeed represented, in millennia, a source of products for use and sustenance (wax and honey), but it is true as well that the owning and caretaking of beehives granted the preservation or the evolution of our macro and micro environments, through a precious path of transmission of traditional customs and knowledge.
The main issue is if it can still be considered proper to apply to the beekeeping methods and systems for an exclusively productive and income valuation. The requests presented by the beekeepers, the industry associations and the civil society, but also by economists, researchers and international organizations, point out another direction, underlining that this activity is always more necessary and unavoidable.
The sixth Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum aims for making another step forward, proposing a new idea of bees and Beekeeping as a Common Good, an indispensable and inalienable patrimony of us all. It is not a further theoretical formulation, but a concrete path which will have to be supported and realised through focused policies, legal orientations, incentives and practical initiatives.
This all will be discussed from 7th to 9th November 2014 in Foligno for the sixth edition of the Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum, entitled “Beekeeping Common Good: from food security to environmental protection”. The Forum wants to be, on the one hand, a space for sharing ideas and experiences between Mediterranean beekeepers, and on the other hand, a place for political dialogue between beekeepers and national and international organizations, in order to build an alliance for bees defence and beekeeping promotion.
The event is organised by FELCOS Umbria (Fund of local authorities for off-centre cooperation and sustainable human development) and APIMED (Mediterranean Beekeepers Association), in cooperation with the Municipality of Foligno, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) ART initiative, and with the sponsorship of the region of Umbria. Furthermore, the event is realised in relation to the project “Mediterranean CooBEEration: a network for beekeeping, food security and biodiversity”, co-financed be the European Commission.

Vincenzo Panettieri
President of FEDAPIMED & Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum