Turning a bee phobia into a thriving beekeeping business

In this blog post, we meet Beviny Payne, facilitator of the UN Live Barbados portal. We learn how Beviny outgrew a childhood fear of bees to become an expert on beekeeping and – inspired by a Global We conversation – followed her dream and launched a sustainable business. “The UN Live outreach is vast”, she says. “I can do so much more, just by sitting in a portal in Barbados!”

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on the Caribbean island of Barbados, chances are you will visit at least one of the buildings constructed, in part, using unique geological silica sand drawn from the island’s Walkers Sand Quarry. In 2009, after nearly five decades supplying sand, this super-productive quarry entered the next phase of its life – as Walkers Reserve, a 300-acre area of biodiversity, ecological health and regeneration.

From sand quarry to food forest

Under Director and Founder Ian McNeel, the Walkers Institute for Regenerative Research and Design (WIRRED) has restored the quarry’s landscape ecology and turned it into a successful nature reserve and agro-tourism destination. Once mostly desert-like, it is now home to sandstone cliffs, forest and fruit trees, clay hills, ponds, beehives and wetlands, all fed by two natural water aquifers. It is also home to our Global We portal, brilliantly facilitated by Beviny Payne, wildlife and environmental conservationist – and beekeeper extraordinaire.

We need bees

Beviny Payne outside the UN Live Barbados portal

In 2022, Beviny joined WIRRED in a retail product development role and to her surprise, she soon caught the beekeeping bug from a WIRRED mentor who began teaching her about these remarkable insects. “Bees are pollinators, and without them, 80% of our crops either won’t produce, or won’t produce as well”, says Beviny. “In Barbados we already import 80-90% of our food. I recognized the importance of bees early on, so I moved away from my fear and just learned to love them, which is pretty cool. And then I saw an Instagram post about bees, and I said “Dad, this is what I’m meant to do!” Today, Beviny helps manage some of the 35-40 hives on the Walkers site and she has five hives of her own, which produce honey made from mango blossom, coconut and banana nectar. She also sells a range of fully organic honey, candles and skin care products (soaps, lip balm etc) made with honey from her own beloved bees.

Hurricanes and drought

Barbados is a small island – around 430 km2 – and it is vulnerable to rising sea levels, storm surges and hurricanes which, driven by climate change, are forming earlier every year. Inclement weather and drastic temperature fluctuations are a perennial threat to beekeepers, says Beviny. “Bees need to forage for pollen (their protein food source) and nectar (their carbohydrate food source). This isn’t possible when drought reduces blossom or when heavy rain risks bees getting their wings wet. During hurricane season, we can prepare by strapping our hives down to keep them secure, but we are not like dairy farmers who can buy hay to feed their animals when drought means there’s no grass. As we can’t go out and buy nectar to feed our bees, it means resources in the hive deplete.”

She explains that, in extreme situations – several weeks of hurricane weather, for instance – bees can be fed sugar water and/or pollen substitutes, but this means the honey can’t be considered truly organic. “We call it funny honey and we don’t sell it. We leave it in the hives for the bees to feed off”. She tells us that honey is one of the most adulterated food products in the world and is quick to pass on a tip: “Always check the label when you buy, and make sure there is no added sugar. Look for raw, natural honey.”

Come for the eco-market; join a global climate discussion!

Travellers to the WIRRED eco-market often combine their trip with a visit to the UN Live portal, which lies close-by in this beautiful rural area of the island. Portal guests have enjoyed Global We conversations with Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Denmark, South Africa and Nigeria. ‘Survival mode existence’ is a running theme across many of the Global We conversations. Says Beviny, “There are so many vulnerable communities in the world who don’t have a sustainable source of income or food. How can you think about the ecosystem when you’re unable to get enough food to eat? All your energy goes towards surviving another day”.

She’s a firm believer in the power of the Global We discussion to unearth solutions. “A lot of people in indigenous communities have knowledge that’s been working for years. We have to give them platforms – or open up existing platforms – to allow them to share these practices with the rest of the world. That’s why the Global We programme is so important.”

Pandemic spur

Beviny’s lockdown experience underlined her interest in sustainability. “During Covid, like many other people I couldn’t travel to study. I felt lost, defeated. Back then, Covid had closed schools and churches and other outreach, which meant kids were missing out on their one healthy meal per day. Organisations like nonprofit Slow Food Barbados organised a food drive, redirecting people from fast food to healthy slow-cooked food”. To keep this momentum going, she adds, “It was clear to me that we needed more than talk. We needed action.”

Her breakthrough came during a Global We session with the UN Live Brazil portal in Santos, when she heard facilitators and guests describing a couple of Brazilian initiatives. The first was community gardens, which sprang up during lockdown, and gave residents space to grow sustainable food – although they weren’t allowed to sell it. Beviny, who immediately saw the scheme’s greater potential, tells us “This isn’t enough. Food isn’t the be all and end all in terms of necessities. People need sustainable income to cover education and healthcare.” The second was a mosquito prevention scheme involving the spraying of pesticide onto bodies of water (known as fogging). “But this”, she says, “disrupts our pollinators. We’re trying to solve one issue but contaminating our environment in the process!”

Lightbulb moment

Listening to her Global We friends in Santos, Beviny realised how she could build on her beekeeping success and focus on the full ecosystem. “I’m so grateful that I had the discussion through the Global We project, because that’s when I realised my full vision and decided to start a foundation called Bees that Feed. I call it my baby. It’s in its early stages and the website is under design, but I’ll get investors and I’ll get other organisations on board. Together we’ll help people get out of survival mode.”

Beviny intends her business to pursue sustainability in three ways. Green energy will advocate for solar panels to be raised off the ground so land can still be used for agriculture (cattle, crops and, of course, bees). “At the moment these panels use up social land. We need to see the bigger picture”. Research and outreach will focus on the genetic diversity of bee species and the teaching of sustainable beekeeping. She will also continue her successful line of natural skincare products. “Our skin is our biggest organ so why not protect its health with natural skincare?”

In the Global We portal, from the left: Dominique Tudor - Eco Rebel, Charlotte Prud'Homme - WIRRED Barbados, Beviny Payne - UN Live portal facilitator, Justin Springer - International Union for Conservation of Nature

I can do so much more, just by sitting in a portal in Barbados

Beviny is passionate about UN Live and has big plans for the future. “Being part of UN Live is so amazing. I’ve always dreamed of connecting with people across the world, but now I recognise I can do so much more – just by sitting in a portal in Barbados – than I could 10 years ago when I was travelling the Caribbean doing environmental research. The UN Live outreach is so much more vast.”

As our conversation draws to a close, Beviny tells us that she’s set her heart on travelling to Brazil to teach natural beekeeping and how to produce food. “I don’t know when I’m going, but I know I’ll get there!”, she says.

The Global We brings passionate individuals together to make sustainable initiatives happen. We look forward to seeing where Beviny’s journey of discovery takes her next.

Interesting personal fact

Beviny’s parents are Scrabble enthusiasts, and her name is a combination of Becky and Kevin.

Message to decision makers

“Environmental solutions must be inclusive of all people and species of the Earth, to not only safeguard our present, but future generations and their livelihoods.”

- Beviny (she/her)

Join the Global We

We are deeply grateful for the collaboration, support and leadership that WIRRED has given to the Global We programme. You can join the Global We conversation at the Barbados UN Live portal here. The portal is located at the Walkers Reserve, Walkers, St. Andrew, Barbados.

Our ongoing Global We for Climate Action gives a platform to diverse, under-represented voices from the frontlines of climate risk, and shares strategies with the power to save lives.

To find out more and join the conversation, please click here.

The Global We programme is supported by IKEA Foundation and powered by Shared Studios.