Andy Cory, the expert honey man on Niue, explaining honey harvest . We also recognize the importance of our terrestrial resources and the roles they play in Niue’s Biodiversity National Geographic / James Peterson
Niue — the isolated “Rock” of the South Pacific — might yet save the world by saving the Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica).
Its tropical 261 square kilometres could become the insect world’s equivalent of Norway’s underground seed vault on Spitsbergen, that remote Arctic island of 37,673 square kilometres. The world may need both.
Niue’s potential role surfaces from a new job advertisement:
“The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat is inviting tenders from interested English‑speaking applicants for the position of Pacific Beekeeping Enabling Environment (BEE) Coordinator.”
The consultancy is tasked with “creating an enabling environment for honey trade in the Pacific.” Details quickly descend into the familiar thicket of workplans, agro‑value chains, and performance indicators — obscuring a far more compelling story: Niue could become the planet’s only dedicated bee sanctuary, protecting one of the world’s most important strains, the Italian honey bee.
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Globally, honey bees are under threat from diseases, parasites, and the spread of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) across the Northern Hemisphere. Niue hosts the last known significant and sufficiently isolated stock of Italian honey bees free of all major diseases and parasites. Its bees have become an increasingly important genetic asset, and Niue itself an ideal sanctuary site.
Since 2018, Niue — population 1600 and 2500 km from Aotearoa New Zealand where 30,000 Niueans live — has been recognised as uniquely suited to such a role: small population, limited visitor numbers, strict border controls, natural isolation, a single port, and unusually pure bee genetics. It is confirmed to be pest‑free.
Oddly enough Niue, for those who live there or visit, is all about its wild and rugged coastline; what may matter to humanity more could be Niue’s rough, plant-clad area about the size of the Scottish city of Edinburgh.
A 2018 report, Audit of Niue’s Honey Production and Export Arrangements, traces the island’s beekeeping origins. The first hives arrived in 1952 when Bill Marsden of Auckland sent 15 colonies. They died out, and four more were sent in 1962, growing to 15 hives by 1967. That year the Niue Honey Company was founded as a partnership between the Niue Development Board and New Zealand beekeeper Jasper “Mac” Mackisack, who shipped 55 colonies from Waikato. Another 300 followed; by 1972 Niue had 1,250 hives. Mackisack died in 1973, and numbers declined.
Jasper “Mac” Mackisack and his hives. NZ Beekeeper, August 1968
The industry revived over time, eliminating several endemic diseases, including American foulbrood (Paenibacillus larvae). Despite periods of neglect, the 2018 study found Niue’s bees had survived “extremely well.”
Cyclone Heta in 2004 nearly destroyed the industry. Around 800 hives were lost through direct damage or starvation. Organic certification was surrendered when non‑organic sugar had to be used to sustain colonies, later regained in 2012 to target niche export markets, especially China. Supplies of organic sugar are now stored against future cyclones.
The study’s conclusion was blunt:
“It appears that the disease status of the Niue Honey Bees is worth protecting. These bees are an ideal source from which to support beekeeping in the Pacific, as they can be kept at low cost and can be managed organically providing an additional trade advantage for any bee products produced.”
Niue’s Apis mellifera population is unique; no Varroa destructor, Small Hive Beetle (SHB), American Foulbrood (AFB), European Foulbrood (EFB), Tropilaelaps mites or nosema disease. Every other major honey‑producing country has pests — some long‑established, some newly arrived.
Once Varroa arrives, eradication is impossible, as both Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia have discovered. Varroa is present in Sāmoa, Fiji and Tonga, while the Solomons and Vanuatu may have it and are considered high risks of it. SHB, devastates honey quality and destroys comb, is in most of the Pacific as well, including in Papua New Guinea where it is a major source of regional pest‑spread risk. AFB is present in Fiji and occasionally elsewhere. Its highly infectious and requires burning hives.
The sanctuary does not yet exist. In aid‑speak, it is “Phase 2” — a future investment option requiring donor funding, regional governance agreements, and, above all, Niue remaining pest‑free. A single Varroa introduction would collapse the concept.
Since 2018, the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF which includes the World Trade Organisation, World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation) and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have produced studies on Pacific bees. Progress has been slow, but the Pacific Islands Forum is now leading the Pacific Beekeeping Enabling Environment Project, a three‑year USD 1.27–1.38 million initiative covering Niue, Sāmoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga.
Part of the Pacific Apiculture Value Chain, the project aims to strengthen rural livelihoods, diversify agricultural exports, and support climate‑resilient, low‑impact industries. Honey is becoming a real export commodity: Niue exported 12 tonnes to New Zealand in 2023; Fiji is nearing 300 tonnes annually; Sāmoa and Vanuatu are expanding.
Increased inter‑island travel and cargo movement are among the threats to bees, along with unregulated importation of bees, queens, and equipment. The BEE Project aims to fix weak surveillance systems.
King Charles III – who is also King of Niue – receives a special edition bottle of Niue honey from Mona Ainu’u, Minister of Natural Resources.
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