The traditional environmental knowledge of beekeepers' civil society organistations: A charter for environmental sustainability?

Over recent years, there has been a notable increase in public awareness of precipitous declines in global pollinator populations. Various theories regarding the cause of these declines include: a decrease in quality and quantity of forage, disease such as varroasis and nosema, and pesticide usage, with particular attention lately on the impact of neonicotinoids. This public awareness has had several results. Beekeeping associations throughout the UK all report an unprecedented increase in the number of people interested in keeping bees. There is increased pressure on local and national governments to address this decline. Wales published its Pollinator Action Plan (WPAP) in 2013. In 2014, DEFRA published its National Pollinator Strategy (NPS). Both aim to redress the calamitous declines in pollinator health and numbers. The EU is currently in the midst of a 2-year ban on neonicotinoids.

This PhD project will explore the beekeepers. Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK), and its subsequent relationship with the wider policy arena. The project will examine the relationship between environmental knowledge of beekeepers and policy formation on agriculture, environment, and pollinator protection. There is an increased awareness of the potential for environmental knowledge to complement other forms of data collecting when monitoring environmental conditions. Beekeepers are recognised as playing a key role in sustaining bee health. Drawing on published research, the project will examine concepts of TEK and resilience, and the potential for beekeepers' TEK to contribute to the environmental sustainability of public policy. It will relate the beekeepers' knowledge to wider geographical debates on lay knowledge and the symbiotic benefits of citizen science for lay practitioners as well as the scientific and policy-making arena. There are also important links to debates regarding conservation in the Anthropocene, and how to reconcile the relationship between human, and more-than-human species, in ways that ensure long-term environmental sustainability.