Today, we are learning from Ana Rosa de Lima.
Ana is the founder of Meli Bees Network gUG, a nonprofit driven by a new generation of climate activists from the Amazon. Her organization is dedicated to connecting Indigenous communities, researchers, and environmentally engaged groups around the world to foster impactful climate action.
Ana is a part of the new generation of leaders from the Amazon area, who witnessed first-hand the rapid adverse changes to her childhood environment. She connects the regenerators deeply involved and concerned with her region, to develop activities involving meliponiculture, environmental education and research, to ensure thriving beekeeping practices in the Amazon. This is a long-term regenerative model for the region.
Let’s get started…
My apologies for the sound quality on my end. I made a mistake.
In this conversation with Ana Rosa de Lima, I learned:
- 00:00 Intro
- 03:15 Her story of growing up in Brazil.
- 04:50 Why it is good to have the COP 30 in Brazil.
- 06:25 The biggest challenge for locals and hosting COP in this area.
- 07:55 The story of the first workshop with the Guajajara people and the fires in the Aamzone in the background in the video.
- 10:00 How the study about mining brought her in contact with the indigenous communities.
- 12:20 Ana explains the reason why she started the materials engineering study.
- 14:05 The scholarship, Science without borders, made it possible for Ana to go abroad during her education.
- 16:00 How the online conversations and meetings reduce travel and keep the footprint low.
- 19:55 How the Meli bees network started and why it started in Germany.
- 27:25 The goal and result of the crowdfunding.
- 28:25 The goal was always bigger than just the bees. The bee as a metaphor for the work they do.
- 31:20 The Meli Bees network stretches beyond Brazil.
- 33:40 How the health of these communities is negatively influenced by the industrialized food.
- 36:05 The effect of mining resources on indigenous communities, that we in the Western world don’t see.
- 40:20 The impact of indigenous people on the revolution and democracy in the 1700s.
- 41:55 We don’t need to be afraid of new ideas coming from other countries and cultures.
- 46:30 The people who wrote the history win, mostly white men. That is why we don’t learn much about women and black people in history or indigenous history.
- 49:35 The wish of the Meli bees community to learn more about the indigenous history.
- 50:20 The funding of the network and the projects of the non-profit organisation.
- 51:55 Three events in Germany that you are invited to: 13-15 March 2025, Bonn, Dortmund, and Essen.
More about Ana Rosa de Lima:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-de-lima/
- https://www.meli-bees.org/
- https://www.meli-bees.org/events-bees-and-the-world/ – the events we mentioned
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQiL24gQd-o
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lf8aHSK9Dg&t
- https://www.futureofwellbeing.com/resource/conversation-with-ana-rosa-de-lima/
Resources
- Hold the collective accountable – Laila Martins
- Inner Development Goals Forum
- Fortaleza (Brazil)
- Pará (Brazil)
- COP 30 in Belém, Brazil 2025
- Bigger cities in Brazil: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Fortaleza and Salvador.
- arc of deforestation
- The Guajajara indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Maranhão
- Arukapé Suruí and Jonas Guajajara event in Dortmund Germany
- Election in Germany 2025
- Book The dawn of everything – David Graeber and David Wengrow (Nederlandse boekbespreking – Het begin van alles #boekencast afl 63)
- Pirate Enlightenment – David Graeber
- Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco
- The Omagua people – Wilhelm von Humboldt
Video of the conversation with Ana Rosa de Lima
Watch the conversation here https://youtu.be/WAa6z86pqQA
