The Bee Project

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We are thrilled to have found an environmental project that works in a very holistic way for our planet. From every piece of jewelry with a bee pendant sold, we are donating 10.- Chf, from every other piece we are giving 3% to this promising project.

With the bee project in the Brazilian rainforest, Swiss forestry engineer ETH Dieter Bratschi not only produces honey, together with his team he also creates jobs for local people, by enabling them to earn an income in harmony with the rainforest and thus counteracts the deforestation of the Amazon region. In addition, the project supports the protection of the Melipones, the stingless native bees in the Amazon region, which are responsible for ninety percent of the pollination of the primeval forest.

Every year, thousands of square kilometres of forest in the Amazon disappear due to deforestation, every single day, 10'000 of trees are cut down.
The Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Foundation, founded by Dieter Bratschi, focuses on the sustainable use of the rainforest - simply and efficiently: A family participating in the project is given three bee colonies together with brood boxes for their queens. After six months, a bee colony can be divided into a mother and daughter colony and thus doubled. When a family reaches fifteen hives, they give three of them back to the project as initial capital for the next breeder family. About fifty bee colonies are enough for a family to survive.

Edson, a native from the rainforest, was able to give up the less sustainable cattle breeding thanks to the income from honey sales. Furthermore he does not use any chemical aids in vegetable cultivation in order to not endanger the bees.
"Those who live from honey production are interested in keeping the rainforest intact.", says Dieter Bratschi, who sees a huge potential here. Not only can this honey bring a lot of money into the region, it also ensures that nature is protected by eliminating agrochemicals and reducing slash-and-burn agriculture.

If deforestation continues as it is, there will come a time when the forest will no longer be able to produce its own rain. Then the entire Amazon ecosystem will collapse.

For locals, a bee colony costs the equivalent of 100.- Chf on the Brazilian market. The NTFP Foundation diligently continues to distribute them to interested families for free. Currently (as of July 2022), over 1000 beekeeping families with about 25’000 hives are involved in this project.
Local families participating in the bee project are trained by Dieter Bratschi and his team. The wooden box in which a bee colony lives and thrives, for example, has to be built by the families themselves, for which suitable tools are needed. The wood for the brood boxes of about 25 x 25 cm has to be 2.5 cm thick so that the temperature inside is right for the bees.

It costs about 10 dollars to make a wooden box like this. By buying a bee bracelet or a bee chain, you are directly helping a beekeeping family to get a new brood box. With every purchase of your Salty & Free Jewelry you contribute to the preservation of our planet.
Amazing! We like.

You can find more about this important project on their website www.ntfpfoundation.org