(Friends of Bees Foundation)

• It was established in Spain in November 2007 as a non-profit foundation. It works on a national level and has arrangements with international organisations.
• It was approved in May 2008 by the Foundations Protectorate of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Food.
• It has dozens of voluntary beekeepers.
• It manages pollination apiaries on threatened or damaged by fires environments.
• It has the permission of the health authorities to develop beehives without pharmacological treatment.
• It has provided dozens of unemployed people with starting hives to induct them into beekeeping.
• Our webpage has more than 9,500 unique visits per month, which monthly explore more than 22,000 pages.

Lots of people and institutions have shown their concern for the constant and silent disappearance of bees, being aware of the problem and coming to the conclusion that more efforts should be made. Fundación Amigos de las Abejas is committed to working in defence of pollinators, specially the “Apis Mellifera” (European honeybee).

We are a group of people from different professions, nature lovers who are worried about the environmental degradation and the gradual disappearance of bees in our ecosystems.

We decided not to sit back and watch but to take action. For example, defending bees as far as possible with the generous collaboration of our supporters, or promoting beekeeping, which is the last stronghold for them.

We also know that in our society beekeepers are relics of the past, destined to disappear if their situation is not remedied. We try to promote beekeeping by helping those nature lovers who take introductory courses to develop their first hives, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the rural population and building the resilience of little beekeepers in each town.

In the following links we introduce the Fundación Amigos de las Abejas members:
– Foundation’s board
– Advisory board.

Bees, along with other pollinators, are responsible for the survival and evolution of more than the 80% of vegetal species of our planet. A severe lack of pollination would cause an unavoidable chain reaction and the extinction of susceptible species —both vegetal and animal.

The reasons behind their decline are complex and the main agents are:

Climate Change
Biodiversity-poor monocultures
Industrial agriculture
Deforestation
Water pollution
Abuse of toxic agrochemicals like herbicides and pesticides
Invasive species
Transgenics
Diseases and parasites

All of these elements, acting together, have made life particularly difficult for bees, the weakest link in the ecosystems maintenance chain.
Furthermore, the survival of bees doesn’t depend entirely on their nature, since wild swarms die as victims of diseases and parasites widespread by humans. Their survival depends on a rural and traditional activity: sustainable beekeeping, yet it is in permanent decline, pushed aside by a lack of stimulation.
Being aware that implication of society is a key point in the conservation programmes for the honeybee, we look for the complicity of people and entities to sponsor projects to protect them.

Projects about: environmental education and respect for the living species, recovery of swarms, beekeeping supporting and provision of hives to novel beekeepers, or collaboration with public and private entities aiming at preserve the soil or restore damaged by forest fires ecosystems. All of them with the efficient and generous help of our bees.