Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum
Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum – MBF was born in Foligno in 2007 thanks to an initiative of APAU, Bee Producers Association Umbria, Felcos Umbria and the Municipality of Foligno, with the support of the UNDP's ART initiative, in line with the neighbourhood policy promoted by the European Union towards the Middle Eastern and African Countries which faces the Mediterranean Sea and with the Union's most recent political initiative for the Mediterranean area.
Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum represents, since its birth, an important and unique chance of dialogue and comparison between Mediterranean beekeepers and their networks, and it has brought to the strengthening of an alliance of associations and cooperatives of apiarian producers (for a total of 23 members coming from eleven different Countries: France, Spain, Morocco, Malta, Algeria, Tunisia, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Albania and Italy), and to the involvement of the different research institutes, public authorities and local, national and international organizations.
Among the reasons which led onto the beginning of this path there surely is, on the one hand, the acknowledgment of the shared territorial value of the apiarian activity as an expression of defence and promotion of the places, be they our own or shared, improved by the work and the activity of the human being; on the other hand, the acknowledgment of the ability of integrating the value of evolution and cultural enrichment with production, economic development, tradition and human development.
Every edition of the Forum has always turned out in common actions for the safeguard and the promotion of the apiarian industry in Countries with different laws and traditions.
The working-group organisation of the Forum allowed, during the years, to find balances between the different realities that took part in it about the topics of the quality of the products, the productive methods and the various Countries' laws
President of Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum
1st Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "Beekeeping between territoriality and market: the valuation of the apiarian productions in the Mediterranean basin Countries" (23rd-25th November 2007). The event had been organised by FELCOS Umbria, the Municipality of Foligno and APAU, with the sponsorship and the support of UNDP'S Global Initiative ART.
2nd Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "Environment, territories and honeys: the communication's role" (21st-23rd November 2008) organised by FELCOS Umbria, the Municipality of Foligno and APAU, with the sponsorship and the support of UNDP's Global Initiative ART.
During these first two editions, the Forum have structured, made its first steps and explored the topics and the main problems.
3rd Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "Honey quality in the Mediterranean area: the harmonisation of ideas and rules" (15th-17th October 2009) organised by FELCOS Umbria and APAU, in cooperation with the province of Berkane and the support of ART Gold Morocco Program.
Starting from this Moroccan edition, the Forum becomes itinerant; the purpose is to physically reach the places which are subject of the debate, to involve and make protagonists of this path the producers themselves, to make the local organisations approach to the themes of the beekeeping industry, to suggest common methodologies and application systems on the different productive areas of the Mediterranean basin and, at last, to cooperate to redefine a technological gap between the countries on the north shore and those on the south shore of the Mediterranean area.
4th Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "Honey bees: promoters of Biodiversity" (11th-12th November 2012), organised by FELCOS Umbria and APAU, with the sponsorship and the support of Gold Lebanon ART Program. Beirut Forum had been on the same wavelength with the "International Year of Biodiversity" declared by UN to contrast the environmental impoverishment, to protect the diversity of vegetable and animal species and to favour the sustainable and eco-friendly development.
The operative proposal of the "CooBEEration" Initiative came from the Beirut Forum. It had been approved with a final resolution, which confirms the commitment to build a global alliance to sponsor sustainable development, food security and biodiversity through bees and beekeeping.
5th Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "The beekeeping's role for the environmental and biodiversity safeguard: a new scientific approach" (Foligno, 25th-26th November 2011), organised by FELCOS and APAU, with the support of UNDP's ART Initiative and in cooperation with the Municipality of Foligno and the Region of Umbria. The Forum has represented the occasion to constitute APIMED, the Mediterranean Beekeeping Association.
Sixth Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "Beekeeping Common Good: from food security to environmental protection" (7-9th November 2014); The event was organized by FELCOS Umbria, APIMED, The Municipality of Foligno, APAU and the ART Global Initiative of the UNDP, with the patronage of the Umbria Region. The event was realized in the framework of the project "Mediterranean CooBEEration: a network for beekeeping, food security and biodiversity", funded by the European Union.
National Beekeeping Forum of Lebanon: "Development strategies for lebanese and mediterranean beekeeping" (5th-6th of May 2015). The event was organized by FELCOS Umbria, APIMED - Mediterranean Beekeepers Federation and UNDP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Lebanon.
Seventh Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum: "Beekeeping at the heart of biodiversity and food security (26th-28th of November 2015). The event was organized by FELCOS Umbria, APIMED - Mediterranean Beekeepers Federation and INAT - National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Tunisia. During the event, the Mediterranean Honeys Charter was presented and approved: this document has an historic relevance; for the first time it frames and defines the Mediterranean honeys on the aspect of their quality, making them uniform with the European standards.
National Beekeeping Forum of Algeria: "The bee as universal strategic resource for local development, biodiversity and food security" (27th- 28th of January 2016). The Forum was organized by APIMED - Mediterranean Beekeepers Federation and FELCOS Umbria, with the support of the local organization National Association of Professional Beekeepers of Algeria and the patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture of Algeria.
National Beekeeping Forum of Palestine: "Good practices for beekeeping and food security", Ramallah, Palestine, Red Crescent Society, 25th – 26th of May 2016.
The Forum is organized by APIMED - Mediterranean Beekeepers Federation - and FELCOS Umbria, with the support of the local organization Ramallah Beekeepers Cooperative and the patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture of the State of Palestine.
The VIII Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum will take place in Chefchaouen, Morocco, on the 22nd and the 23th of November 2016. The Forum is organized by FELCOS Umbria and APIMED - Mediterranean Beekeepers Federation, with the support of the Municipality of Chefchaouen, UNDP and FIMAP – Moroccan Interprofessional Federation of Beekeepers.
Vincenzo Panettieri
President of Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum
