Mediterranean CooBEEration: a network for beekeeping, biodiversity and food security

EUROPEAID

Mediterranean CooBEEration is a project aimed to support beekeeping and its strategic role in the preservation of biodiversity and the improvement of food security and socio-economic development in the Mediterranean area. The project is the natural continuation and capitalization of a long process in support of beekeeping and sustainable development implemented since 2007 by FELCOS Umbria and APAU (Association of Umbrian Beekeepers) with the support of UNDP ART Initiative in the framework of a dialogue of territorial cooperation with Mediterranean countries.

Countries covered: Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Italy.

 

OBJECTIVES

  1. Strengthening technical, organizational and lobbying skills of Mediterranean beekeepers and their networks.
  2. Advancing knowledge on the strategic role of bees and beekeeping for food security and biodiversity.
  3. Spreading a new vision of Beekeeping as “Global Common Good”, through the realization of an international awareness raising campaign in the countries involved.

Beyond its specific goals, the project also has an important parallel purpose: to contribute to the construction of the Mediterranean regional identity, integration and socio-economic cohesion and, at the same time, to show how different types of actors – international organizations, LAs, producers, academics and government institutions – can work together by articulating and harmonizing roles and actions within the framework of a common purpose for sustainable development.

ACTIONS IN BRIEF

To reach these goals the project realized several missions of training and technical assistance targeting directly beekeepers and their local and national associations, in order to strengthen their technical and organizational skills and their ability to actively participate in political dialogue and lobbying toward institutions and governments with regards to local, national and international policies in the field of agriculture, environment and trade.

Furthermore, in the framework of CooBEEration three new editions of the Mediterranean Beekeeping Forum have been organized (November 2014 in Foligno, Italy; November 2015 in Tunis; November 2016 in and Chefchaouen, Morocco) and two National Forums in Algeria and Palestine.