Interview with Thomas Fabian - Board member of FREETHEBEES

Mr. Fabian, you are a board member of FreeTheBees. Before we talk about the organization, we would like to know more about how you came to be involved with bees today?

I trained as a beekeeper about 20 years ago. Various activities struck me as quite strange and contrary to nature. Even a more in-depth questioning of the activities of my beekeeper godfather could not dispel my unease: My questions could never be answered satisfactorily in terms of bee protection.

One morning I read in the newspaper: guerrilla beekeepers want to release bees back into the wild. I was immediately hooked and contacted the founder André Wermelinger. This was the starting point of my work with FreeTheBees, initially as financial manager and then, from 2019, also responsible for fundraising. The years and challenges that followed were incredibly exciting. The learning curves were always impressive.

FreeTheBees is committed to bees, as you can easily deduce from the name. How are bees doing in Switzerland today?

The 600 or so bee species that once existed in Switzerland have been severely decimated. 10% of the species are already extinct, 45% are endangered and will die out without countermeasures. The honey bee is one of these wild bee species, albeit a very special one. It is both a wild and a farm animal. As a wild animal, it is on the brink of extinction and is neither protected nor promoted, except by FreeTheBees. On the contrary: conventional beekeepers and overzealous bee inspectors from the veterinary offices are even actively destroying them. As a farm animal, bees are kept in excessively high densities and inappropriately and are exploited for the sole purpose of honey production. The unfortunate result is reflected in the health situation of honey bees and the increasing intensity of treatment by beekeepers.

Last summer, SRF DOK reported that there are too many bees in Swiss cities due to the large number of hobby beekeepers. According to the report, this endangers biodiversity. How do you see this? Should the number of beekeepers be reduced again or what would be the most sensible approach?

Yes, that is correct. Bees in general can only survive to a limited extent in agriculturally dominated areas. Some of the wild bee species are retreating to the city, where plant biodiversity and habitat structures are even better than in the countryside. There is now competition for food between the honeybees, which are kept in large numbers, and the wild bee species that are worth protecting. An additional negative effect is the transmission of disease from the bees kept by beekeepers to the wild honey bees. If more lifestyle urban beekeepers keep honey bees in the conventional way, the honey bee density and thus the competition and contamination situation will increase. As a solution, we suggest keeping bee colonies close to nature or completely naturally, in line with our beekeeping methodology. Although honey can no longer be produced, the bee colonies are also significantly smaller. If you want, you can of course combine the methods and still produce honey with one colony, for example. We have also developed a method for this, which we call "extensive", as an alternative to the widely practiced intensive honey beekeeping. Extensive beekeeping does not require any chemical treatments, has an almost equal honey yield and healthier bees. We need to focus the incentives for beekeepers on pollination performance and not on honey. That would make more ecological and economic sense and would regulate bee density all by itself.

What exactly is FreeTheBees' position on the production and consumption of honey?

We humans want to, must and may feed ourselves from nature. But only up to the point where our natural resources are not irretrievably destroyed. In the case of honey bees and honey, we have long since passed this point. We are committed to ensuring that consumers will one day be able to consume honey again with a clear conscience. Honey from happy bees from species-appropriate husbandry.

And as mentioned before, even from an economic point of view, the provision of pollination services would be in the foreground, not the maximum yield of honey.

A question of personal interest: To what extent does the welfare of bees correlate with the welfare of other pollinators? Do you have any knowledge of this?

In my view, we are dealing with a real insect problem, not "just" a bee problem. Everything is connected to everything. Honey bees are wonderful bio-indicators. We can tell a lot about the state of local nature from a single scientifically monitored bee colony, for example by analyzing honey and pollen, but we can also detect countless types of environmental toxins. Where honey bee colonies can no longer survive without beekeepers, the local habitat within a radius of several kilometers is disturbed and the survival of countless other plant and animal species is also problematic.

FreeTheBees implements various projects. What projects are you currently working on?

We can make a difference for our bees with our projects. With the tree cavity project, we are creating ecologically important habitats. With the training and awareness-raising project, we are creating transparency with the help of lectures, further training, courses, international conferences and various communication measures. Our Swiss BeeMapping project is currently monitoring and scientifically researching 275 wild bee colonies. And for the first time, we are also providing environmental education for young people on our new bee experience trail.

How can people support your organization? Is it possible to support individual projects or donate to individual projects?

60% of our funding comes from the foundation's income. These are always project-related. The remaining contributions come from private donors and long-standing friends of FreeTheBees. Our 250 or so members, who also support our association financially with an annual donation, are also particularly important to us. Legacies are also playing an increasingly important role in our income portfolio. On April 14, 2024, our "Discovery trail of free-living honeybees" will be officially opened in Vaulruz. Numerous media will also be represented there, an ideal opportunity to get to know us without obligation!

How important is cooperation with foundations and companies for your organization?

Very important, without these institutions our mission would not be possible. We regularly invite patrons to events where foundations, companies and private patrons can experience our organization and projects at first hand. This year, we will be offering another such event on August 8 in Etziken (SO). A cozy get-together is also a good way to gain more trust and knowledge. It will then quickly become clear that FreeTheBees really means "green".