Honeybee decline: its impact on subsistence activities and ecosystem in Shiiba village, Japan

Abstract (English)

The presentation will examine the recent honeybee decline in Shiiba village in Miyazaki, and how it has affected on local people’s subsistence activities as well as ecosystem of the region. Honey collecting has been practiced as a “traditional subsistence” for more than 300 years in this village. Today, there are 130 bee-keepers and they practice beekeeping mainly for the purpose of self-consumption. Honey has been consumed as an important source of food or medicine within a family, relatives, or a community to sustain people’s everyday lives.
However, since around the year of 2008, there has been a significant honeybee decline. The locals have started to observe strange phenomenon, such as sudden death of many bee hives or significant bee diseases or pests. Through the fieldwork research, it is found that there are three main causes. Firstly, the post-war “afforestation policy” transformed the ecosystem of the region so that it affected the habitat of many species, including the bees. Secondly, there has been a rapid increase in deer numbers that changed the plant ecosystem of the region. Thirdly, the commercialization of honey introduced in 2004 affected to the bee population.
By examining the ethnographic data, the presentation shows as bees are the pollinators, its population directly impacts on bee keeping, agriculture and food production, and plant ecology of the region. It will be examined through the perspective of multispecies ethnography by considering the bees as actors.