Gathering honey from wild and traditional hives in the Miombo woodlands of the Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique: What are the impacts on tree populations?

Honey gathering is one of the activities sustaining people's livelihoods in the Miombo woodlands of southern Africa. Current practices involve killing trees and can cause uncontrolled fires, affecting villages, animals and trees. This study aimed to understand honey gathering and production and its impacts on the Miombo woodland vegetation, in Lizongole village, Niassa National Reserve. Data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with 15 honey gatherers in one village and on 95 plots where all trees ≥10 cm, dbh (diameter at breast height), alive or dead, were identified at species level, and their dbh (cm) and heights (m) measured. Forty-seven percent of the respondents produced and managed beehives and 100% gathered wild honey. Bark beehives are preferentially made from Julbernardia globiflora (‘Ntchenga’) while wild honey is gathered from natural cavities in a diversity of tree species, typically by felling the tree. Both techniques are destructive and primarily target larger trees (average dbh of 26.1 ± 1.2 cm for debarked trees and 30.4 ± 2.4 cm for trees felled). Impacts on tree populations varied among the 12 species killed for honey, depending largely on their relative abundances. For nine species, felling and debarking were found to have reduced the number of larger trees by between 40% and 100% compared to previous densities. This is diminishing the nectar resource, the number of bee colonies, and the number of trees suitable for wild hives. However, honey can be gathered using non-destructive traditional practices based on tree climbing. Widespread adoption of such practices is needed to sustain honey production.