This Book intends to address all aspects needed to develop beekeeping into a powerful instrument of rural development and will focus on beekeeping as a tool for Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood security. In the backdrop of the social and economic issues of the people living in poverty region, the book aims to delineate specific motivation approaches to engage them in beekeeping and will serve as a guide for effective marketing through diversification and value addition of bee products. Nevertheless, marketing and environmental issues will remain an important component of this book. The aim is also to focus on indirect benefit of beekeeping so that it is integrated with farming and nature conservation. Other topics include ensuring the provision of practical techniques in handling and management of bees. It will provide detailed information on good contacts with policymakers and authorities; and channels for attracting finance especially in the third world countries. An interdisciplinary approach is the key feature of the book and it will also focus on few case histories and success stories to encourage the reader to take up beekeeping as a new venture gradually in a phased manner like traditional-transitional and modernised beekeeping. With the publication of this book, we hope to hand out a practical guide that will assist all those who are involved in beekeeping for development. We hope it will stimulate beekeeping as an integrated activity with farming and nature conservation and will serve in many households for poverty alleviation and livelihood security.

Bees provide a critical link in the maintenance of ecosystems, pollination. They play a major role in maintaining biodiversity, ensuring the survival of many plants, enhancing forest regeneration, providing sustainability and adaptation to climate change and improving the quality and quantity of agricultural production systems. In fact, close to 75 percent of the world’s crops that produce fruits and seeds for human consumption depend, at least in part, on pollinators for sustained production, yield and quality. Beekeeping, also called apiculture, refers to all activities concerned with the practical management of social bee species. These guidelines aim to provide useful information and suggestions for a sustainable management of bees around the world, which can then be applied to project development and implementation.

"The booklet's aim is to create awareness and promote beekeeping as a viable diversification enterprise for small-scale farmers. Its main objective is to demonstrate how beekeeping can become an important business for small-scale farmers in their agricultural endeavours and how this can support their livelihoods in rural and remote areas. The booklet is intended for all those working in rural development projects in public, private and donor organizations."--P. 7.

This book examines topical issues in global corporate social responsibility (CSR) from both scholarly and practical perspectives. It offers a variety of viewpoints and cases from countries around the globe and combines them with current academic knowledge. Intended for students, academics, and managers wishing to keep abreast of the challenges and opportunities for corporations operating in our ever-more-complex globalized world, this book provides fresh insights into responsible business conduct.

The nature .and diversity of presentations at the conference on: "Bee Products: Prop erties, Applications and Apitherapy" held at Tel-Aviv on May 26--30, 1996, emphasize the increasing interest of physicians, practitioners, scientists, herbalists, dieticians, cosmeti cians, microbiologists, and beekeepers in different facets of bee products. This volume consists of a selection of 31 contributions presented at the conference and which provide information on the present status of our knowledge in this area. In spite of their diversity, they reflect the mainstream of the conference, namely: "Imported" Prod ucts (honey, pollen and propolis), Exocrine Secretions of Workers (venom, royal jelly). Toxicity and Contaminants, Quality Control, Marketing, Apitherapy, Cosmetics, etc. Since antiquity, honey as well as other bee products were used as food, as a cure for ailments of humans and animals, and as cosmetics. We hope that this volume will contribute to interdisciplinary studies on chemical composition, pharmacological effects, nutrition, and other aspects of bee products. Critical and unbiased experimental research may unravel the yet unknown composition and mode of action of bee products and elucidate many unanswered questions. The noteworthy features of this conference were the participants from all parts of the world and of different cultural backgrounds, who shared their keen interest and curios ity regarding honey bees and their products. We thank all of them for their personal con tribution to the success of this conference.

Honey bees are social insects; they live together in large, well-organized family groups comprising three castes: queen (fertile female), workers (sterile females) and drones (males). During honey flow season, there is a considerable increase in the foraging activity of the workers and in the rate of egg laying by the queen. Sex determination in honey bees involves a multi-allelic locus, such that homozygotes develop as males and heterozygotes as females, whereas diet quality influences the caste determination in honey bees. Like all living organisms, honey bees can be infested with diseases and pests. Some of these are more deleterious to bee colonies than others, but it is important for the beekeeper to be able to recognize conditions that might be disease or pest-related and respond accordingly so as to improve the quality of honey and honey bee by-products. The best-known primary products of beekeeping are honey and wax, but pollen, propolis, royal jelly, venom, queens, bees and their larvae are also marketable primary bee products. The purpose of this book is to make available information on bee biology and beekeeping as well as to provide comprehensive information on manufacturing, processing and marketing of value-added bee products. This book has been designed as a useful tool for the many diverse professionals who characterize and market honey bee products, including beekeepers, non-beekeepers, small entrepreneurs, extension officers and those involved in small business development. This edited book will be the first of its kind to contain comprehensive information on both bees and bee products. Key Features: Contains comprehensive information on beekeeping. Discusses the recent advances in beekeeping. Sheds light on bee colony integration and organization. Contains brief information on honey bee products.

This volume provides basic information about managing wild bees and on the use of their products. It identifies and describes major bee species and their importance for nature conservation and for sustaining livelihoods of rural people. Bee products are considered at both subsistence and commercial level, and particular attention is given to the potential for further development of managing wild been species in developing countries. The role of bees for pollination of crops and the impact of managing bees on forestry and farming are presented. Wild-bee keeping techniques, honey production and marketing, and the international trade in been products are described with further references and sources of additional information given. Using this publication, readers will better understand the complexities and opportunities for developing apiculture by rural livelihoods. Also published in French.