There's more than one way to know a bee: beekeeper's environmental knowledge, and its potential role in governing for sustainability

Maderson, Siobhan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5351-3139 2023. There's more than one way to know a bee: beekeeper's environmental knowledge, and its potential role in governing for sustainability. Geoforum 139 , 103690. 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103690

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Abstract

This paper explores the epistemological contradictions and complementarities of different geographies of environmental knowledge, as illustrated within the context of understanding bee health. Debates surrounding the relevance of local knowledge, whether used on its own or combined with spatially abstracted scientific understandings, have significant implications for understanding and managing the agri-environment, in which bee health is a matter of social, ecological and economic concern. Recent years have seen the development of multi-scalar policies designed to reverse the declines in honey bees and other pollinators, many of which highlight the role of beekeepers in monitoring and ensuring pollinator wellbeing. This paper uses archival analysis, interviews and participant observation to explore the defining characteristics of beekeepers’ environmental knowledge, and this community’s potential to help improve pollinator wellbeing. This paper notes beekeepers’ practical reliance on tacit knowledge, which frequently shares some of the characteristics of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK). Although their localised tacit knowledge is often combined with wider scientific study, generating spatially complex hybrid knowledge, practical experience is emphasised as key to successful beekeeping. Locally situated practice generates significant observations of factors affecting bee and other pollinator wellbeing, as well as knowledge about wider land use changes and its impact on bees. While TEK and other tacit understandings are recognised as supporting sustainability, environmental governance often struggles to successfully incorporate the insights of diverse epistemological communities whose lives are entangled with other species.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0016-7185
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 February 2023
Date of Acceptance:	27 January 2023
Last Modified:	19 Jun 2023 17:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/157001

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