Voice of Change: Championing beekeeping as an agribusiness

For the Ogiek, a hunter-gatherer community with an intimate, centuries-deep relationship with Kenya's forests, honey has always been part of life. Jackson Kiplagat's story shows what happens when that traditional knowledge is organised into a real agribusiness: hives that generate steady income, improve household food security, and give forest conservation an economic reason to continue.

Beekeeping asks little of the land and gives back a great deal - pollination that strengthens surrounding ecosystems, honey and hive products that reach local markets, and a forest that is worth more standing than cleared. Jackson's account, filmed for this series, makes the case plainly: when a community's livelihood depends on a healthy forest, protecting that forest stops being someone else's responsibility.

This story is one of seven told by community champions themselves, part of Voices for Change - a partnership between the CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience (ClimBeR) and CEMIRIDE exploring how indigenous knowledge and rights-based approaches are already building climate resilience across Kenya's minority and indigenous communities.