Impacts of land use and land use changes on the resilience of beekeeping in Uruguay

Abstract

We use a social-ecological systems framework and interview data from key informants to analyze the threshold dynamics underpinning the resilience of the local beekeeping sector, amidst changes in land use (management) and land use changes (conversions) that result from the expansions of the soy and eucalypt frontiers in Uruguay.Our results indicate that while agriculture began displacing grasslands that originally provided high yields of honey, afforestation now compensates those losses through the flowerings of Eucalyptus grandis. By extending the flowering season from six to eight months, beekeepers' dependency on tree plantations has increased. However, forestry enterprises are now shifting to plant more productive species that do not flower similarly, anticipating a threshold crossover to which the beekeepers may be unable to adapt. In conclusion, resilience of this environmentally sensitive livelihood has been suppressed primarily by land use changes that have introduced new costs and challenges into honey production. However, threshold dynamics that appear as multifaceted challenges faced by beekeepers occur also elsewhere in the system. Certain outcomes of the threshold dynamics similar to feedback loops in social-ecological systems were identified, including considerations of out-migration and change in occupation, of which ultimate impacts remain unclear. Most beekeepers still cope with the remaining viability, but it appears that the current resilience level does not allow for further harmful impacts. This case example of coupled social and ecological interactions through a livelihood lens gives rise to future research in evolving new dimensions to govern social-ecological systems in Uruguay and beyond.

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“…These results are of interest when comparing them with earlier research on international pulp investments in Chile and Uruguay, in which Ehrnström-Fuentes and Kröger (2017) found that corporate-community relations tend to be dynamic and contentious, and certain stakeholder voices tend to become marginalized. To reach a wide-level social license to operate, it is clearly important to understand how local people engage with their various livelihood alternatives in communities impacted by large-scale pulp investments (see also Malkamäki et al 2016 on the related case of Uruguay). In BR4, for example, the interviewed manager pointed out that "the company is still creating tools to deal with its social issues, because they are different from environmental ones.…”

“…A structural change is occurring in the forest products trade and investment sector due to saturation of the traditional main markets in North America and Europe, while the emerging economies of Brazil, India, and China have opened up with much higher demand growth prospects (Hetemäki et al 2016). The internationalization of large-scale forest industry firms has led to the expansion of plantation area and pulp production in the global south, which has raised concerns regarding the threat of forest resource overuse and inherent sustainability challenges (Malkamäki et al 2016, Toppinen et al 2010.…”

Impacts to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services From Bioenergy Development: A Pan American Experience

“…However, mass-flowering crops, like eucalyptus, can reduce pollination services to other crops and act as a pollinator "sink" during peak bloom periods potentially lowering pollination rates and harvests for adjacent pollinator-dependent crops (Holzchuh et al 2011). In nearby Uruguay, E. grandis is being replaced by another faster-growing eucalyptus species that does not flower before it is harvested, and beekeepers there are concerned about the loss of the floral resources for their bees (Malkamäki et al 2016). Future research should also directly consider the value of eucalyptus flowers as floral resources for wild bees, and consider the trade-offs with other land uses that provide more consistent and year-round flowering.…”

“…The impact of afforested plantations on native bees and wasps is largely unknown; the majority of the research on plantations and bees has focused on honey bees (Malkamäki et al, 2016) or eucalyptus pest species like gall wasps (Aquino et al, 2011) with little information on plantations as habitats for pollinating bees . Understanding how wild bee populations respond to this type of LULC is critical because of the rapid expansion of tree plantations that now account for 277.9 million hectares worldwide, a full 7% of the Earth's forests (FAO, 2015).…”

Honey bee nutritional health in agricultural landscapes: Relationships to pollen and habitat diversity

“…However, if a grassland is dominated by grasses and lacking in flowering forbs, it will be of low value as a forage source for honey bees (Smith 1964, Palmer 2008. Native grasslands, including both native tropical grasslands such as savannas (Abdullahi et al 2011, Dukku 2013 and native temperate grassland such as steppe habitats extending across eastern Europe and central Asia (Kim 2018), pampas in South America (Malkamäki et al 2016) and prairies in North America may provide favorable choices as apiary locations. Conservation grasslands such as CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) areas in the U.S. containing native prairie plants have been shown to support honey bee colonies .…”