Two municipalities in the Peruvian Amazon have given local stingless bees legal rights to exist, thrive and be represented in court.
Two municipalities in the Peruvian Amazon have given local stingless bees legal rights to exist, thrive and be represented in court. This is the first time an insect has been recognized as a rights-bearing entity anywhere in the world, according to a published correspondence. the nature.
Ordinances passed in the municipalities of Satipo and Nauta-Loreto guarantee the right of bees to exist, reproduce and thrive. It establishes a legal framework that allows indigenous groups and conservationists to sue on behalf of bees.
Its founder Rosa Vasquez Espinoza led the campaign Amazon Research International. He spent years traveling the Amazon documenting bees in collaboration with indigenous communities. Stingless bees have been cultivated by indigenous peoples since pre-Columbian times and have cultural and spiritual significance for indigenous groups such as the Ashninka and Squeezing- Squeezing the people
Apu Cesar Ramos, President of the EcoAshaninka Communal Reserve Apu Cesar Ramos said, “The scattered bees contain indigenous traditional knowledge, which has been passed down from the time of our great-grandparents.” The Guardian. “Stingless bees have existed since time immemorial and reflect our coexistence with rainforests.”
D the nature The authors noted that stingless bees pollinate about 80% of tropical plants. However, they face climate change, deforestation, pesticides and competition from invasive European bees.
Peru’s National Law No. 32235, passed in 2025, officially recognized the stingless bee as a species of national interest. This milestone helped pave the way for municipal ordinances.
“This ordinance marks a turning point in our relationship with nature: it makes stingless bees visible, recognizes them as rights-bearing subjects, and confirms their essential role in preserving ecosystems,” said Constanza Prieto, Latin American director of the Earth Law Center, who helped promote the ordinance. The Guardian.
The Peru ordinances are part of a larger global “rights of nature” movement that seeks to give ecosystems and species the same legal status as people or corporations. Countries including Ecuador, New Zealand and Colombia have given legal rights to rivers, forests and even glaciers. But insects have never crossed that line before.
Shi-Ji Wang and AJUB, who are co-authors the nature Peace, said Legal Rights, gives communities a way to fight back by suing those who destroy habitat or use harmful pesticides. So far, they say, insects have had almost no meaningful legal protection.
The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, has identified more than 1,100 insects as threatened, including more than 20 bee species. Their loss poses systemic risks to food security, forest regeneration and climate resilience.
The researchers urged policymakers, particularly those managing biodiversity hotspots in Asia and Africa, to adopt a similar legislative model for their insects.
Banner Image: A bee emerges from a hive in Mayobamba, Peru. Image courtesy of Bill Salazar via Pixel/Creative Commons.
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Previously published with news.mongabay Creative Commons Attribution
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