We all know that keeping our bee communities in good shape (and monitoring potential extinction) is top of the list when it comes to preventing further climate change, but Angelina Jolie and Guerlain are taking a level of commitment to our insect friends one step further. The French cosmetics brand (which has an affinity with the bee after it became an emblem on one of its first perfume bottles in 1853) and Jolie have partnered with UNESCO to train 50 women beekeepers.
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Jolie has been given the title “Godmother” of the partnership, officially named the “Women for Bees” entrepreneurship program. ‘Godmother of Women for Bees’ certainly has a film-worthy ring to it. It will seek to train women not only to establish their own beekeeping operations but to learn the theory and practices behind all the different areas of the trade, from how to look after the creature to the running of a professional apiary. It intends to empower women to be masters of the sustainable (and environmentally important) venture, something that is close to Jolie’s heart.
There will be ten women invited – everywhere from Cambodia and Bulgaria to Italy, China, and Rwanda – to undertake the 30-day training at the Massif de la Sainte-Baume in France’s Provence, every year, over five years. By 2025, they hope to have built 2500 hives and “restocked” 125 million more bees.
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“The role of women in biodiversity management and decision-making processes is not fully recognised. Therefore, supporting and promoting the contribution of women as agents of change is essential and a global priority for UNESCO,” says Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO. “The ‘Women for Bees’ programme not only highlights our interdependence with other living species, but also encourages women to be ‘designers of change’ to create, educate and experiment with sustainable beekeeping in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as a way of living on Earth in harmony with other species.”
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Over the five years, Jolie will meet with the female beekeepers and learn about their progress. Having already founded a Cambodia-based Foundation in the name of her son, Maddox, which supports the community and ecology in the country, she knows a thing or two about empowering communities while helping the environment.
“When women gain skills and knowledge their instinct is to help raise others,” she says. “I’m excited to meet the women taking part in this programme from all over the world. I look forward to getting to know them and learning about their culture and environment and the role bees play in that. I hope the training will strengthen their independence, their livelihoods, and their communities.”
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