Regulating Bees Beyond Property and Pristine Nature: Ecological Thinking and Biocultural Landscapes in Mexico

In 2024, a landmark judicial ruling in Mexico formally recognized the ecological value of bees, setting a precedent for eco-centric legal interpretations of biodiversity. This decision responded to a long-standing struggle led by Indigenous and peasant beekeepers from the Yucatán Peninsula, who opposed the expansion of the agro-industrial model into established agroecological landscape. Rather than treating bees as livestock or wildlife, the ruling acknowledged their embeddedness in long-standing socio-ecological relationships and the cultural and territorial practices of Mayan communities.

This article reconstructs the legal and epistemological turn catalyzed by the social mobilization that enabled this outcome, and uses it to engage a broader exploration of questions: What meanings and legal implications does an “ecological turn” acquire in biodiversity-rich countries where rural life is largely shaped by Indigenous and peasant worldviews? How are contested ecological debates, particularly those involving interspecies dynamics and socio-ecosystem transformations, translated into, reflected by, or addressed through legal frameworks?

The article examines how conflicts over its ecological role and its interactions with native bees, Mayan agricultural systems, and rapidly shifting environments are negotiated in law and policy. In doing so, the article challenges utilitarian, conservationist and atomistic views of biodiversity and property within the Mexican legal framework.