Stingless bees in the Peruvian Amazon have made history as the first insects in the world to receive legal rights, following landmark municipal ordinances adopted in Satipo on October 21, 2025, and Nauta on December 22, 2025, a breakthrough in environmental law that formally recognizes these native pollinators as rights-bearing beings entitled to protection.
The ordinances—most notably Municipal Ordinance No. 33-2025-CM/MPS—were drafted by Earth Law Center and Amazon Research Internacional alongside the Asháninka Communal Reserve and EcoAsháninka, and guarantee multiple stingless bee species, including Melipona eburnea and Tetragonisca angustula, the rights to exist, reproduce, maintain healthy populations, live in pollution-free and climatically stable ecosystems, and be legally represented when threatened.
The initiative was led by chemical biologist Rosa Vásquez Espinoza of Amazon Research Internacional, whose research during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that stingless bee honey contains hundreds of bioactive compounds with antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and potential anti-cancer properties, while Indigenous communities simultaneously reported steep population declines linked to pesticide exposure even in remote forest zones.
These pollinators, which have existed for around 80 million years and are responsible for pollinating more than 80% of Amazonian plant species—including key crops such as coffee, cacao, avocados, and bananas—are increasingly endangered by deforestation, habitat loss, agrochemicals, climate change, and competition from introduced European honeybees.
Constanza Prieto, Latin America Director at Earth Law Center, said the ordinances require immediate local action such as relocating colonies instead of destroying them, reducing pesticide use, protecting native vegetation, and expanding environmental education, while conservation advocates push for national-level recognition in Peru through a public petition that has already attracted more than 388,000 signatures.
