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A Decade of Conserving the Nordic Brown Bee: Experts Met to Discuss the Status of the Brown Bee

Date: 2022.02.13

Contact: farm-animals@nordgen.org

Ten years into planning a better future for the Nordic brown bees, the breed has now been integrated into national conservation programs in the Nordic countries. As the leader of the network, NordGen is pleased with the work so far. The time has now come to set new goals and expand the network.

The Brown Bee Network met online to discuss the conservation status in the Nordic countries as the network will celebrate its 10th anniversary in April this year. 20 beekeepers, researchers and members of national beekeeping organizations participated in the meeting.

National Conservation Programs

Today, the Nordic brown bee is still endangered. But a lot of work has been made during the past decade. The network started out as an ad-hoc project led by NordGen, aiming to clarify the status of the conservation of the Nordic brown bee, in addition to providing suggestions for further action. The ultimate goal was to introduce the Nordic brown bees as part of the national conservation plans in the Nordic countries.

In cooperation with experts from the Nordic Countries, the status of the bees has been summarised and the first action plan was published in 2015. The action plan has since been released in a second version, published in 2019. Further, a public platform called Brown Bee Wiki has been established, gathering information about specific management practices for the brown bee.

NordGen Senior Scientist Maria Kjetså

“The Nordic brown bees have got more of the attention they deserve. The bee has been integrated into the national conservation programs in the Nordic countries, which has accelerated national conservation activities in Nordic countries,” said Maria Kjetså.

Now Is the Time to Set Ambitious Goals

Kjetså hopes that the network will keep bringing attention to the status of the Nordic Brown Bee. The ultimate goal would be to have viable populations of brown bees, with characteristics that beekeepers value, in each of the Nordic countries.

“Maybe the network could also lead to more research and knowledge about the Brown Bee. We have already started small with some genetic samples testing for purity, but we hope that we can also look more into the genetic characterization of the Brown Bees across the Nordic countries and their environmental adaptations,” said Kjetså and continued:

“Now is the time to set new ambitious goals for the next decade of the network.”