The road to sustainable harvests in wild honey collection: experiences from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to discuss a development intervention based on wild collection viz., honey from the wild Giant Rock Bee (Apis dorsata), that seeks to balance livelihoods and conservation using enterprise, research and appropriate technology. Like many non-timber forest products (NTFPs) especially medicinal plants, sources of the wild honey and identity of the gathering community remain untraceable in most cases. The anonymity of many NTFPs once they enter the market, has negative implications for understanding the ecological costs of harvesting from the wild. In this chapter we start by introducing the forests, its bees, and the honey hunters. We then describe ecological research done on bees, sociological studies on the honey gatherers and the value chain analysis for honey. We conclude by discussing linkages between enterprise, livelihoods and conservation which have aided in keeping the honey-based enterprise ecologically and socially responsible.