In a historic decision, a municipality in Peru granted legal rights to stingless bees.
This is Satipo, in the Junín region, the first in the world to give legal protection to this insect.
This milestone marks the first time an insect has obtained legal protection in the world.
The municipal ordinance established that these bees have the right to exist, thrive, and live in a pollution-free environment.
The legal recognition allows the meliponas to be represented before authorities and courts in case of threat.
Stingless bees pollinate more than 80% of Amazonian plants.
Among the benefited crops are cocoa, coffee, and avocado, fundamental for the Peruvian regional economy.
Critical threats to the stingless bee in the Amazon
Massive deforestation in Peru represents one of the main dangers.
According to the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), “in 2024, the deforestation was the fifth highest recorded (since 2002), with more than 1.7 million hectares throughout the Amazon.”
Peru registered 8.1% of this total deforestation. Pesticides, climate change, and the invasion of Africanized bees worsen the situation of the meliponas.
Forest fires broke records in 2024. “This total broke the previous record of 1.7 million hectares in 2016,” details MAAP, with 2.8 million hectares affected by fire.
Science and indigenous communities
Peruvian scientist Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, founder of Amazon Research International, promoted the initiative.
Her work documented the cultural and spiritual importance of these bees for Amazonian peoples.
The Asháninka and Kukama-Kukamiria communities consider meliponas sacred.
“For the Asháninka and Kukama-Kukamiria peoples, these bees are not a resource. They are part of the cultural fabric,” states the official document.
The honey of these bees contains bioactive compounds with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.
Indigenous communities use it as a traditional remedy for centuries.
The unique characteristics of meliponas
Stingless bees have inhabited the Peruvian Amazon for thousands of years.
They do not have a functional sting, so they defend themselves through bites and sticky resins.
Their role in biodiversity is crucial for ecological balance. Meliponas existed in Peru long before humans arrived in the region.
Organizations like Earth Law Center, Amazon Research International, the Ashaninka Communal Reserve, and EcoAshaninka supported the legal framework.
Technical reports from environmental specialists supported the ordinance.
This precedent in Peru could inspire similar initiatives globally.
Ecuador recognized the rights of nature in 2008, followed by Bolivia and New Zealand in subsequent years.
The legal protection in Peru not only safeguards a key species. It preserves ancestral knowledge that, according to indigenous peoples, represents “language, history, and ways of inhabiting the jungle.”
