Why is it in News?
→ Satipo Municipality in Peru granted legal rights to Amazonian stingless bees.
→ First global instance of legal recognition of insect rights.
Important Points:
- Legal rights granted through a municipal ordinance in Satipo, Peru.
- Applies to native stingless bees of the tribe Meliponini.
- First legal recognition of insect rights globally.
- Bees are native pollinators of the Amazon rainforest.
- Responsible for pollinating over 80% of Amazonian flora.
- Possess vestigial stingers and defend by biting or secreting resins.
- Traditionally protected by Indigenous communities.
- Aims to preserve Peru’s biocultural heritage.