Sustainability

Amazomel SDGs Wheel

Amazomel contribution to Planetary Health

Latest PBs Assessment: Planetary Health Check Report (October 2024, Page 12)

9 processes have been scientifically identified as key in regulating the stability, resilience, and life-support functions of the Earth system; these are known as the Planetary Boundaries (PBs) processes.

Key info: The Amazon Bassin, the richest ecosystem & biodiversity region on land, risks to tip over (flipping to a Savana state, no carbon sink anymore but new carbon source) already at 1.5°-2°C, if deforestation reaches 20-25% of total forest cover. Today, we are at 1.2°C global warming, and 17% of deforestation!

Amazomel impact on Planetary Boundaries

Climate Change

Amazomel: More bees mean more trees. Higher carbon sequestration from forest areas. Amazomel: Rural communities switching from catling/logging activities to meliponiculture. Avoided GHG emissions.

Change in Biosphere Integrity

Amazomel: Animal diversity preservation: Amazomel work with more than xx (60) different native stingless bees’ species. Amazomel: Plant diversity restoration: Native stingless bees are pollinating XXXX plant species.

Land System Change

Amazomel: Meliponiculture is an alternative, sustainable & regenerative income source to catling, logging, or intensive crop monoculture which prevents deforestation. Amazomel: Native stingless bees are keystone species within local ecosystems and thus preserve their ecological functions and services.

Freshwater Change

Amazomel: 100% organic honey production avoid any used of pesticides that would contamine water streams.

Modification of Biogeochemical Flows

Amazomel: 100% organic honey production avoid any used of fertilizers that would modify nitrogen and phosphorus cycles.

Ocean Acidification

Amazomel: By supporting reforestation and avoiding additional GHG emissions, meliponiculture prevents ocean acidification.

Introduction of Novel Entities

Amazomel: By harvesting and transporting it in bulk, as well as developing new plastic-free packaging, Amazomel prevents the use of novel entities such as plastic.

Unique Impacts & Values

AMAZON RAINFOREST’S RICHNESS

3 key dimensions:

THE BIOME

The Amazon is the largest biome on Earth and it occupies 5% of Earth’s surface. It covers 7.8 million sq km (equivalent to Australia) and encompasses 9 countries. Thirty-three million people live in the region, including 385 original people, besides isolated groups [RAISG, 2012].

BRAZILIAN AMAZON

The Amazon occupies half the territory of Brazil (4.9 million sq km), equivalent to the European Union’s 28 countries all together). 25 million people live in the Brazilian Amazon, among which are 1 million families in traditional communities dedicated to family agriculture.

RELIEF

96% of the Amazon is considered lowlands, where more than half lies below 100 m above sea level, and less than 5% lies above 500 m.

3 critical environmental services:

WATER

The Amazon and the Tocantins Mega-estuary contains 1/5 of the planet’s river water. Deforestation, cattle ranching and the soy industry destroy small creeks. Most river sources become intermittent in the dry season or simply disappear, thus affecting the water cycle.

EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

The Amazon Forest is a sponge that absorbs water from the Atlantic Ocean and keeps it in the environment (100 billion tons of water stay in the region, giving it its humidity). Some of the moisture travels to neighboring regions in the form of “flying rivers”. These currents of moisture carry more water than the terrestrial rivers. Without the forest, the water vapor (humidity) in the region drastically diminishes.

CARBON DIOXIDE

The Brazilian Amazon is believed to house 82,100.00 million tons of CO2 (based on INPE, which estimates that an average hectare stocks 167,7 tons of CO2)[INPE, 2014]. Deforestation, forest fires (and fire for agriculture) and other land uses can release significant amount of carbon dioxide, contributes to global warming.

3 unique biodiversity values:

FOREST

The Amazon holds more than half of the largest remaining tropical forest in the planet. 76 countries holds the other half in three continents.

BIODIVERSITY

The Amazon is the most complex known biome. It houses an estimated 1.5 million species. This means that presumably in an area of 5% of the Earths’ surface, 1⁄4 of all living species are found. For amphibians (frogs, toads, etc.) endemism reaches 87%, and for reptiles (snakes, turtles, crocodiles) 62% are endemic.

PLANT DIVERSITY

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN AMAZONAS

Their importance for food security & need for empowerment

INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATION

While indigenous people represent only 12.5% of total Amazonas State population, indigenous food producers from Amazonas state represent 24.7% of total Brazilian indigenous producers.

INDIGENOUS POPULATION

While almost 80% of Amazonas GDP is generated in the city of Manaus, only 14,6% of all Amazonas indigenous people lives in the city.

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE

Conclusion: Indigenous food producers are extremely important and those from Amazonas represent the biggest community. Furthermore, indigenous people are kept away from economic development in Amazonas. This is why Amazomel is working on protecting their livelihoods and empowering them to become financially independent!

INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATION

While indigenous people represent only 12.5% of total Amazonas State population, indigenous food producers from Amazonas state represent 24.7% of total Brazilian indigenous producers.

INDIGENOUS POPULATION

While almost 80% of Amazonas GDP is generated in the city of Manaus, only 14,6% of all Amazonas indigenous people lives in the city.

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE

NATIVE STINGLESS BEES & INDIGENOUS TRIBES

The importance of stingless bees in indigenous cultures & traditions

SIGNIFICANT ROLE

Stingless bees played a significant role in Mayan religious views and today they are directly or indirectly used for diverse purposes, including managed pollination, medicine, crafts, and folk art; while honey, wax, and pollen are regularly extracted and sold, thus providing an important source of income for indigenous and non-indigenous populations.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

The shared cultural heritage of these people is integrally tied, in some respects, to the stingless bees. For many indigenous groups now pursuing an urban life, stingless bees and their products still play an important role in the material and symbolic artwork that has facilitated their engagement to the regional and national market economies.

VAST DIVERSITY

For Carvalho Zilse (2019, p.1), the Amazon is home to a “vast diversity of native stingless bees, as well as Amazonian peoples, who have always lived with these insects and given them different names, values, and uses”. In the writings of scientific expeditions to Amazonian communities, there are recurring “reports on the uses of bee products in the daily routine of these peoples”, such as “the use of honey and pollen in the preparation of remedies called “garrafadas” (syrups, remedies made with herbs and honey)”, as well as “the consumption of water sweetened with honey; wax manipulated to caulk canoes and boats, in addition to polishing and finishing handicrafts, arrows, etc.”

Meliponicultura A socio-economic empowerment

Aidar (1996, p.14) states that meliponiculture should be “understood as a vital activity in our society, not only for the production of honey and other by-products, but also for the maintenance of plant life in the tropics through the pollination of plants and maintenance of the genotypic diversity of this important ecosystem”.

Meliponicultura has the possibility of becoming an essential asset in family production units. It is an activity that can include young people, women and the elderly in productive practice, since it is not demanding in terms of labor and requires almost no physical effort.

For Magalhães and Venturieri (2010), raising native or indigenous stingless bees is an alternative and a way of using natural resources, based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. Meliponiculture is, therefore, an agricultural activity that produces positive impacts for society, contributing to the generation of income and maintenance of ecosystems, while also promoting biological diversity and presenting low dependence on inputs from outside the property.

Stingless bees products Amazing Medicinal Properties

The medicinal properties of Native Stingless Bee Honey are attributed to how stingless bees store their honey within the hive. Stingless bees store their honey in pots made from tree resins and bee wax. This mix is known as propolis. Due to the plant resins in propolis, it is highly bioactive, containing a large number of polyphenols. Polyphenols are plant compounds including flavonoids and phenolic acids and are commonly associated with having therapeutic properties.

As the honey sits in these pots of propolis, it is naturally infused with its benefits. Native bee honey also has considerable peroxide activity produced from bee derived enzymes introduced by the bees during the honey making process.

Reference: Tetra Native Bee Honey

Total Activity: a comparison between Native Stingless Bees Honey & Manuka Honey

Total Activity (TA) refers to the sum of both NPA (non-peroxide activity) and PA (peroxide activity). It represents the overall antibacterial strength of the honey. TA is determined by comparing the honey's ability to inhibit a bacterial organism against a known antibacterial solution containing phenol. Peroxide Activity (PA) of honey is largely determined by the presence of glucose oxidase, an enzyme introduced by the bees in the honey making process. Non-Peroxide Activity (NPA) values are attributed to the source of nectar or the floral resource from which the bees are foraging.

In a study assessing the antimicrobial strength of 22 honey samples from Australian native stingless bees, the average TA measured 26.3% (see graph below). In the same study TA of the Manuka honey control measured 18%. A TA score of 26.3% ranks very high and is roughly equivalent to Manuka honey with an MGO rating of 1200+.

Reference: Tetra Native Bee Honey

Antioxidant properties: Honey can help prevent damage to cells. The antioxidants properties of honey vary in each variety due to various geographical regions [30]. It has been reported that the antioxidant activity of stingless bee honey was triple the value of raw European honeybee honey and quadruple the value of processed honey [13].

Phenolic & Flavonoid Compounds: According to Tungmunnithum et al. [33], both flavonoids and many other phenolic components have been reported for their effectiveness as antioxidants, anticancer, antibacterial, and cardioprotective agents; anti-inflammation; and promoting the immune system. According to Zulhilmi Cheng et al. [34], stingless bee honey is reported to have higher phenolic content compared to European honeybee honey, which is due to the stingless bee being smaller, thus enabling it to collect nectar from different species of flowers.

Antimicrobial properties: A study ([23]) on Stingless Bees in Brazil (Melipona bicolor, Melipona quadrifasciata, Melipona marginata, and Scaptotrigona bipuncatata) reported that the antimicrobial activity of stingless bee honey was twice as high as European honeybee honey when compared to previous reported findings of MIC.”

Sugar profile: Trehalulose is a rare sugar not naturally occurring in any other food. Trehalulose is special as it is low GI, meaning it does not cause spikes in blood sugar. Stingless bees convert all nectar containing sucrose into trehalulose during the honey making process. Native Stingless Bee Honey contains less total sugar than regular honey with an average of 64g per 100g of honey, of which 32% on average is the low GI sugar Trehalulose. Manuka honey on average contains 78g of sugar per 100g of honey.

Sources

Chidi & Odo, 2017 – Meliponiculture for sustainable economy (1st Study)
Rozman et al., 2022 – A Comprehensive Review of Stingless Bee Products (2nd Study)
Nogueira, 2023 – Overview of Stingless Bees in Brazil (3rd Study)
Ramalho, 2004 – Stingless bees and mass flowering trees in the canopy of Atlantic Forest: a tight relationship (4th Study)
Toledo-Hernandez et al., 2022 – The stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponi): a review of the current threats to their survival (5th Study)
Athayde, Stepp & Ballester, 2016) – Engaging indigenous and academic knowledge on bees in the Amazon: implications for environmental management and transdisciplinary research (6th Study)
De Sousa Silva et al., 2023 – Socioeconomic aspects of meliponiculturists in the Amazon: challenges for the effective creation of stingless bees aiming at the maintenance of environmental and ecosystem services (7th Study)
Da Costa et al., 2021 – Meliponiculture in Amazonas: Challenges for maintenance of environmental services, sustainability and well-being of roral communities (8th Study)
De Souza Oliveira, 2020 – Etnobiologia das Abelhas Nativas do Brasil nas Etnias Kaiabi, Kayapo, Xavante e Guarani (9th Study)
De Andrade, 2014 – Caracterizaçao de Morfologia Floral de Especies Visitadas por Meliponas de Criaçao em Parintins, Estado do Amazonas (10th Study)
Patel et al., 2020 – Why bees are critical for achieving sustainable development (11th Study)
Khan, 2023 – Review of the Role of Bees as Ecosystem Engineers in Nature
Grüter, 2020 – Stingless Bees – Their Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution (Book)
Ayala, Gonzalez and Engel, 2013 – Pot-Honey – A legacy of stingless bees (Book 2) – Chapter Mexican Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Diversity, Distribution, and Indigenous Knowledge
Tetra Native Bee Blog – Native Stingless Bee Honey vs Manuka: a comprehensive comparison, 14.02.2024
Instituto Peabiru, 2015 – The Amazon, pollination and the Peabiru Institute – A quick view about the Amazon and its socioenvironmental challenges