Save Bali’s Bees

Kelly Marciano is on a quest to save the bees of Bali. As the founder of the Natural Light Candle Co, a company that makes pure beeswax candles, she understands what a world without bees and beeswax means. She has founded a new initiative called the Ratu Lestari Alami project, or Queen Bees for Sustainability. She recently went to Kalimantan, traveling 17 hours in a truck to meet the people harvesting wild honey. She found out they usually threw away the beeswax, never thinking they could sell it. She’s now going to put up 200 beehives at Hatten vineyards, at Green School, Bambu Indah, and Green Village. She has a goal of having over 2,000 hives on Bali. She gets the wax and you get the honey. An amazing program, check it out.

-JH

Here in Indonesia the bee population has been drastically affected by the practice of slash and burn agriculture. As a result, vast areas of the rain forest have been destroyed. The majority of Indonesia’s honey and bee-keeping activities are in the forest. It’s time to get busy and save Bali’s bees!

About Bali Bee Week (September 2016) 

A full week of conferences and educational talks in combination with an educational display on the topic of the declining bee populations and its effects on Bali and Indonesia is taking place this week. The aim is to create awareness and promote solutions that individuals, companies, and communities can take to repopulate the Island with bees.

The goal of 2000 Hives for Bali by 2017—a volunteer initiative by Ratih Nurruhliati and Kelly Marciano—will present research findings, strategies and information on beekeeping, creating permanent education displays at Hatten Wines’ The Cellar Door, and undertake initiatives to help repopulate Bali’s bee colonies.

About Ratu Lestari Alami

Queen Bees for Sustainability is a new CSR initiative of Natural Light Candle Company. Ratu Lestari Alami is the Indonesian community name.

The Queen Bee mission at Natural Light Candle Company is to support sustainable beekeeping within Indonesia with a global view of world-wide honey bee decline and possible global food shortages. The program collects data, conducts research, and offers support and assistance to beekeepers, honey collectors, and farmers living in bee populated areas across the archipelago.

The goal is to help farmers in Indonesia, so that they can continue and grow their beekeeping activities in a sustainable and economical way that directly benefits their families, the farming community, and the honey and wax industry, as well as, having a positive impact on Indonesia’s natural environment and food resources.