IFOAM Apiculture Forum
The forum envisions itself as a platform to discuss and exchange ideas on how to improve the health and vitality of bees, launch development strategies for organic beekeeping (e.g. studies, research, and concepts), enhance awareness of bees and their positive impact on the organic farming sector (e.g. pollination, income generation), and represent organic beekeeping at local and international events.
To address species-appropriate bee needs, IFOAM Apiculture has also expanded organic beekeeping standards, which had previously concentrated on honey quality. At a time when bee colonies the world over are collapsing, IFOAM Apiculture lobbies to raise awareness around the need to stop unsustainable environmental practices that damage the environment and harm bees. These efforts thereby help guarantee beekeepers a sustainable source of income.
The impetus to establish IFOAM Apiculture arose at the 2012 World Conference in Mexico, which motivated ECOSUR, Naturland, and FiBL to create a formal institution to jointly promote organic beekeeping around the world. The forum addresses all forms of beekeeping, including indigenous, wild, and traditional apiculture systems.
Projects
World Conference on Organic Beekeeping (September 6-10, 2016): organized and jointly managed the Argentinian-based event together with APIMONDIA, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations, and the Argentinian beekeeping co-operative Coopsol. IFOAM Apiculture’s Coordinator, Manfred Fürst recounts the conference as “galvanizing for the organic movement in Argentina, which is known as one of the world’s leading countries for GMO crops.”
Board Members
IFOAM Apiculture Forum members during 5th International Organic Beekeeping Conference at University of Hohenheim in March 2019.
From left to right: Rene Sayago (Coopsol, Argentina), Uli Bröker (Apicon, Germany), Solomon Mengesha (below, GIZ Ethiopia), Peter Gänz (Naturland Germany, Manfred Fürst (IAF Coordinator, Germany), Günter Friedmann (demeter, Germany), Salvador Garibay (FiBL, Switzerland).
Missing: Remy Vandame (Ecosur, Mexico)
- Manfred Fürst (Coordinator), Naturland e.V.
info@apiculture.ifoam.bio; manfred.fuerst@gmail.com - Günter Friedmann, Demeter.
imkerei-friedmann@t-online.de - Peter Gänz, Naturland e.V.
p.gaenz@naturland.de - Salvador Garibay, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) – Switzerland.
salvador.garibay@fibl.org - René Sayago, Coopsol, Argentina.
renesayago@coopsol.com.ar - Remy Vandame, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico.
abejas@ecosur.mx - remy.vandame@gmail.com
