Bees in my garden: a project raising awareness of the importance of native species

Every first Sunday of the month, beekeepers Natale Nicoló, José Neto Soares, and Eduardo Martins welcome visitors to Parque dos Jesuítas, located in central Diadema (SP), with displays of stingless bee species like mandaçaia, uruçu amarela, iraí, manduri, boca de sapo, mandaguari preta, and tubuna. These native bees, showcased during free events held by the project “Bees in My Garden”, spark public curiosity and raise awareness.

“There are 20,000 bee species worldwide. Of these, only 400 are social species that live in colonies with queen-worker-drone hierarchies. Brazil is home to 300 of these social species, known as stingless native bees. However, when people think of bees in Brazil, most associate them with stinging bees, which are actually invasive species”, explains Natale Nicoló.

Native bees

The competition between stinging and stingless bees is significant. Stinging bees are known for their aggressiveness, and their expansion in Brazil has disrupted ecological balance. “Most of our food directly depends on the pollination work of bees”, warns Natale, the project’s founder.

He describes the competition between native and invasive species: “A colony of native bees typically consists of 300 to 5,000 individuals. In contrast, a stinging bee colony can number up to 80,000, creating a vast disparity. When a plant begins to bloom, stinging bees often arrive first, overwhelming the area.”

“Often, stinging bees fail to pollinate certain plants, as some species require our native bees for pollination due to their specific size and behavior”, Natale continues. “For example, some stingless bees vibrate their wings while collecting pollen, which facilitates pollination. When stinging bees harvest pollen without pollinating, our bees lose the opportunity because the pollen is already gone. We aim to teach people about these dynamics.”

Environmental education

Active since 2018, the project is entirely independent. To sustain their efforts, the team launched a crowdfunding campaign on Catarse and began selling products like honey and liqueurs from producers across Brazil during their events.

Natale recounts how it all began after discovering that Brazilian TV host Gugu Liberato was a meliponiculturist (keeper of stingless bees). “I first unexpectedly learned about stingless bees through an Instagram post of Gugu harvesting jataí honey. I found it fascinating and thought, ‘I want to raise bees.’ At the time, I owned a secondhand bookstore and started searching for information.”

Fate took care of the rest, he recalls. “One day, a young man came into my bookstore looking for books on bees. My mother, who was working that day, told him not to bother because I kept all the bee-related books. Intrigued, he left his contact information and invited me to an event where beekeepers could exchange ideas. I attended, bought a mandaçaia hive, and became a meliponiculturist. I haven’t stopped since.”

Bees in my garden

Initially, Natale kept a few hives at home but quickly realized he lacked sufficient space. He offered to place a hive in the garden of an elderly woman, a friend’s grandmother. Soon, he received news that the grandmother had stopped taking medication and was feeling more energetic.

Inspired by the positive impact of the bees’ presence, Natale began distributing hives to seniors. To sustain this effort, he proposed the idea to the Parque CIENTEC (USP’s Science and Technology Park), a spacious, green area that embraced the project.

While the bees initially struggled to adapt to the park, the project evolved. The space transformed into an educational trail to inform visitors about the importance of native bees.

How to cultivate stingless bees

The project remained at CIENTEC from 2018 to 2022, attracting up to 250 visitors on a single Sunday. Since 2023, the initiative has moved to the Diadema Butterfly Garden and now holds monthly events at Parque dos Jesuítas.

At each event, Natale, José Neto, and Eduardo organize a collaborative breakfast, give a presentation on native bees, and showcase around 10 species of stingless bees. They also teach attendees how to build temporary shelters for bee colonies and provide these shelters to interested participants.

“To raise stingless bees, you first need to set up temporary shelters to capture new swarms. These shelters are typically made from recycled PET bottles. It’s not predatory but rather an opportunity for the bees to multiply, creating possibilities for new colonies”, Natale explains.

Licenses for rescue

The project encourages collective beekeeping in urban gardens, condominiums, and schools. Both exotic and native bee cultivation is regulated by specific legislation, and hive rescues require authorization, which the project has obtained. In São Paulo, registrations must be completed with the State Department of Environment, Infrastructure, and Logistics.

Natale highlights the challenges of urban and rural beekeeping, particularly the use of pesticides. “In urban areas, one overlooked villain is the mosquito fogging spray used for dengue prevention. While it seems like a safeguard, it doesn’t stop mosquito larvae and ends up killing other insects, like bees and even small hummingbirds. The chemicals are too strong”, he warns.

Through education, Natale hopes to alert the public to these issues. “Without bees, there is no pollination. Without pollination, life cannot reproduce”, he emphasizes.

Want to support this cause?

The next event will be on December 1st at Parque dos Jesuítas in Diadema. To donate, contribute through Catarse. For a complete schedule, follow the project on Instagram.