Overview
- Satipo approved the first ordinance in October and Nauta followed on December 22, making stingless bees the first insects anywhere to receive legal rights.
- The measures recognize rights to exist, maintain healthy populations, live in habitats free of pollution and harmful climate disruption, and to legal representation in cases of harm.
- Local rules are expected to drive habitat restoration, tighter pesticide controls and expanded research, according to legal advocates involved in drafting the ordinances.
- Scientific work led by Rosa Vásquez Espinoza with Indigenous partners documented ecological roles, declines linked to deforestation and contaminants, and medicinal compounds in honey that helped spur the policy shift.
- Campaigners are pressing for nationwide adoption as international interest grows, with a large Avaaz petition backing expansion and implementation now the central challenge.