• Form an international coalition of bee scientists, experts, beekeepers, associations, activists, and others
• Share best practices, protocols, data, and other resources
• Provide visibility and support to partners via networking and communications campaigns
• Centralize research partners’ and citizens’ data to build the world’s largest repository on Survivors
• Develop scientific projects, educational programs, and conservation campaigns together to inspire local action to protect wild populations

Honey bees are essential pollinators that promote biodiversity and ensure food security. Unfortunately, in many regions of the world, honey bee colonies are considered extinct in the wild, while those managed by beekeepers also perish at alarming rates. This crisis has been caused by a series of interacting, largely human-derived stressors.

In contrast to this trend, a few extraordinary populations have been found to be surviving, completely unaided or with little human intervention, despite being plagued by the same lethal maladies. From the few studies investigating these Survivors, we know that, through natural selection, these special honey bees have evolved the capacity to withstand multiple deadly afflictions. These Survivors represent a precious reservoir, from which future communities, both wild and managed, could potentially be repopulated.

To date no wide-reaching international initiative exists to identify, record, monitor, study, and safeguard the many Apis mellifera Survivors awaiting discovery around the world, thus the raison d'étre of Honey Bee Watch. Additionally, such an initiative could aid in the protection of the 10 other honey bee species, for which no global conservation effort has yet been hatched, despite their suspected declines and an overall lack of fundamental data regarding their current distribution and health status.