- Researchers in Brazil identified anti-inflammatory properties of a cream made with the propolis of Amazon stingless bees, with results similar to commercial healing ointments.
- Stingless bees (meliponines) are the primary pollinators for the açaí berry, making their conservation crucial for both the Amazon ecosystem and a billion-dollar global industry.
- For one Amazon family, swapping cattle ranching for beekeeping and cosmetics is a real-world example of a bioeconomy that experts say offers a powerful alternative to deforestation.
Açaí’s deep purple pulp is widely considered a “superfood” for its antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. The berry grows naturally in the Amazon and has become a star for the rainforest’s bioeconomy, reaping more than $1 billion worldwide. Now, a growing body of research is showing that its antioxidant properties are not exclusive to the berry and are also present in its neighbors.
A study by scientists from Brazil’s agricultural research company, Embrapa, in partnership with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), has shed light on the pharmaceutical potential of a cream formulated with propolis produced by native Amazonian stingless honeybees, known as meliponines.
The experts identified healing and anti-inflammatory properties of substances sourced from the propolis (a resinous substance collected by honeybees from tree buds, used by them to fill crevices and to seal and varnish honeycombs) of the species Scaptotrigona aff. postica, popularly known in the northern Brazilian region and nearby areas as abelha-canudo. According to the findings, dermatological tests showed results comparable to those of healing ointments available in average cosmetic markets, giving positive perspectives for the creation of by-products.
“The propolis-based cream directly influenced the lesion maturation process and exhibited a milder inflammatory response,” according to the study, published in October 2024, while describing that “biopharmaceuticals such as propolis-based creams offer advantages such as minimal side effects, low chemical residues, and negligible preservatives.”
Despite being far less numerous and well-known than their more famous stinging “cousins” — particularly for not producing honey in the same quantity and at the same speed — meliponines have a key role in the rainforest dynamic, providing important ecosystem services.
The research investigated bees that live around monocultures of açaí (Euterpe oleracea), which accounts for 60% of the pollination of the berries, according to a 2020 study by Embrapa and scientists from the UFPA and the Federal Rural University of the Amazon (UFRA).
“They visit flowers more frequently, almost always carry pollen, and have larger colonies,” wrote Embrapa biologist and study co-author Alistair Campbell. “They are the most consistent species in pollinating açaí and can be bred and managed.”
Daniel Santiago, an Embrapa researcher with a doctorate in animal science who has been studying native bees for years and participated in the 2024 study, added that stingless bee species developed a huge “affinity” for açaí flowers throughout time.
“This made beekeeping of stingless bees an essential element in the açaí production chain,” he told Mongabay. “At a point that the açaí chain began to truly demand abelhas-canudo for pollination.”
Embapa’s 2024 study says the properties of stingless bees’ propolis are influenced by the flowers of açaí, whose palms create “a specific environment that directly influences the characteristics and composition.”
Joaquim dos Reis Rodrigues, a 43-year-old bee manipulator from the municipality of Concórdia do Pará, in Brazil’s northern Pará state, has seen this firsthand. Proudly describing himself as a “small family farmer,” Rodrigues spent most of his professional life in contact with Amazon wildlife and is convinced animals, plants and fruits are “mutually dependent.”
“Stingless bees’ honey has its differentiation,” he told Mongabay. “These bees contribute to the environment, and working with them, in some way, is working for that more profound purpose.”
Rodrigues said he sells stingless honeybees’ honey for triple the price of regular honey — up to 180 reais ($33) per liter (0.3 gallons).
Stingless bees: bioeconomy and forest allies
Stingless bees are abundant in the Amazon, housing 75% of all species known in Brazil, said Santiago. Also, according to a 2023 research by Brazilian experts from several science institutions, more than 100 species “occur exclusively” in the rainforest, raising interest in Amazon bioproducts from those bees.
Although they are not the preferred bees for honey, their small output is considered a true bioeconomic and environmental gem, becoming coveted by fancy Brazilian restaurants — a “new type of caviar,” according to the Brazilian news outlet Veja.
“It’s an animal with multiple contributions to the ecosystem and one that provides high-value-added products,” Rodrigues said.
Honey from stingless bees tends to be more liquid and acidic due to its specific chemical composition, according to the Brazilian Bee Studies Association. It’s also less sweet, as it concentrates more water than sugar.
“It also contains a natural amount of bacteria and yeast, microorganisms that induce fermentation,” the association says in a publication on its site. “Therefore, stingless bee honey is not as stable as honey from [other] bees — a characteristic that requires special treatment.”
In its final form, it can also come in a diverse range of flavors, colors and scents and uses. These aspects vary depending on the species and also on habitat and season, factors that exert a high influence on the flowering environment. “Propolis, for instance, has long been known for its healing effects. It only ‘lost value’ after [the discovery of] penicillin [in the 1920s]. It was once used to heal war wounds — and has always been a balm,” Santiago said.
These nuances, added to its production in inferior volumes, “is what makes it a niche, a more ‘gourmet’ type of honey,” he said. In addition to being a singular product, honey’s “unique process,” according to Santiago, is also what makes it “essential” for a whole Amazonian sustainable, socially empowering production chain.
New bioeconomy routes
Science has been playing a game-changing role in revealing the properties of sustainable products from the Brazilian biome, often backing knowledge from Indigenous and traditional communities.
Examples of other Amazon species include the jambu (Acmella oleracea), a plant that has been studied for the development of oils, fast-dissolving oral film for treating cancer patients and alcohol-free mouthwashes, among other items. In the Marajó Archipelago, bathed by the mouth of the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean, science, ancestral knowledge and Amazonian biodiversity team up to produce oil made from the larvae of the tucumã stone beetle (Speciomerus ruficornis), which has medicinal, antioxidant and even cooking properties.
While bioeconomy products face several hurdles to becoming an alternative to deforestation and agribusiness, they could generate up to $8 billion in new revenue for Amazon families.
As for melipones, Santiago said it helped Embrapa “rediscover” forgotten traditional Amazonian knowledge, which has generated the agency’s interest in fostering sustainable production techniques to empower small-scale agriculture.
“When we saw the impact of stingless bees on pollination, we realized that Embrapa could help [farmers] to evolve [their practices] so that the minimum number of swarms could generate the same productivity,” he said.
“We’re already making progress in oriented pollination, dispersal techniques, speaking of systematic, efficient methods [of meliponiculture]. The propolis [that composes the studied cream] comes in that scenario.”
The positive impacts of this mutually beneficial Amazonian relationship are among the first elements mentioned by Rubens José Pinon. Known as “Rubinho,” he has been living for more than two decades on a rural property in the municipality of Breu Branco, Pará, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the state’s capital, Belém, host of November’s COP30 U.N. climate summit.
Initially, he started using his land to raise dairy cattle. But things changed with the approval of Brazil’s Forest Code of 2012, which he said required “further preservation in land use.”
“At that point, we thought about reforesting the area. And we understood that we could use fruit trees. It was when we planted açaí,” he said.
By investing in fruits, Rubinho and his family saw a new horizon opening up.
“Gradually, we realized we needed pollinator agents. First with stinging bees, then the stingless ones came. And those [bees] stay inside the plantation. This led to the idea of harnessing the honey produced by these animals.”
However, Rubinho said that honey production by stingless bees alone “couldn’t supplement” the family’s income due to its low output. That’s when he and his wife, Camélia, decided to look more closely at the animal’s by-products.
“We realized that, despite producing little amounts of honey and propolis, the quality of both was very good. We noticed that the potential of propolis was enormous. And when you are in the Amazon, you have an immense variety of trees and plants. They boost the propolis,” he said.
With the support and orientation of Daniel Santiago and other research from Embrapa, the Pinons began to pay more attention to propolis. And a sustainable business activity was born.
As years went by and the family started to master the dynamic between bees, açaí and its products, they created Amabee Cosmetics. A social media success case, forged through partnerships with Embrapa and other organizations such as Brazil’s support service for small businesses, Sebrae, the Pará Institute for Forest Development and Biodiversity and the state’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, Amabee has developed several honey and propolis cosmetic products, exporting them all over Brazil.
Their catalog includes hair cleansing products, moisturizing gels and creams and multiple types of soaps, including those for intimate hygiene. Items can cost 10–40 reais ($2-8), excluding shipping fees. He said eight of the products already have the certification of Brazil’s health agency, Anvisa, and that the company “is looking forward to developing new creations.”
Despite the sales success, the couple mentions the socioenvironmental benefits of the family activity.
“When I worked with cattle, I was always stressed; the activity itself was stressful. We worked hard for little pay. Today, we live in harmony with the animals,” he said. “When you work with bees, it’s not just about profit. It is about caring for all the nature around us. Today, we are happier. We live in harmony, under the same goal: caring for nature, which also means caring for others.”
The network of sustainability and economic opportunities on which Rubinho and Camélia base their source of livelihood extends into the social sphere. Just as he and his wife have had the opportunity to learn about meliponiculture and product development through training courses and incentives, he said, they intend to “share the knowledge” so other people can be part of it.
Today, Amabee leads socioeducational projects in schools and other rural areas in the region, teaching both students and small farmers about the activity and introducing them to its ecological benefits.
Knowledge sharing, they say, could make a difference.
“When we started working with açaí and bees, the change was drastic in environmental terms. And nature has given back to us.”
Banner image: Stingless bees in a box hive at the headquarters of Embrapa’s Eastern Amazon office. Image courtesy of Embrapa.
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Citations:
Ferreira, S. R., Teixeira, S. A., Lima, G. O., De Castro, J. N., Teixeira, L. E., Barros, C. A., … Muto, N. A. (2024). Healing activity of propolis of stingless bee (Scaptotrigona aff. postica), reared in monoculture of Açaí (Euterpe oleracea), in induced wounds in rats. Molecules, 29(19), 4742. doi:10.3390/molecules29194742
Bezerra, L. A., Campbell, A. J., Brito, T. F., Menezes, C., & Maués, M. M. (2020). Pollen loads of flower visitors to Açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea) and implications for management of pollination services. Neotropical Entomology, 49(4), 482-490. doi:10.1007/s13744-020-00790-x
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