29/04/2026
We love honey and that's where the exploitation starts. Beekeepers must find this disturbing but just think about it for a moment. We farm mammals and bees...and depending on the scale and ethical consciousness this is where the problem starts.
On Wild Bee Guardianship and the Limits of Current Bee Narratives
There is an increasing global conversation around bees, often framed through language such as “connection,” “natural practices,” and “conservation.”
While these words may sound aligned, they do not always reflect the same ethical position.
Much of what is currently presented as bee conservation remains rooted in systems of management, interaction, and use — particularly in relation to honeybees.
Why is the focus so often on honeybees?
Because honeybees sit within existing economic and cultural systems — systems where humans still have a role, a form of control, or a perceived benefit.
Wild bees, particularly solitary species, do not sit within those systems.They exist outside of human use.
And because of this, they are often overlooked, misunderstood, or reframed through narratives that bring them back into human relevance.
My work does not sit within this framework.
It is based on a simple but fundamental understanding:Wild bees do not require human management, handling, or use in order to exist.
They require the opposite.
They require the conditions that allow them to live undisturbed, free from interference, extraction, or interpretation.
This includes:– no honey harvesting from wild systems– no relocation, handling, or manipulation– no invasive forms of study– no reframing of their lives through human need
It also includes recognising that the locations of wild bee nests are not information to be shared publicly.
To map or publish the presence of wild colonies is to expose them to disturbance, exploitation, and harm.Protection, in this context, requires restraint — and an understanding that not all knowledge should be made visible.
Wild bees are not a resource.They are not a practice.They are not a system to be improved.
They are autonomous participants in living ecosystems.
Protecting wild bees is therefore not about finding new ways to relate to them.
It is about recognising that they do not exist in relation to us at all.
This distinction matters — not as ideology, but as a necessary condition for the continued integrity of wild bee populations.
