 Kia ora ana, I'm from the Cook Islands. My name is Alistair Macquarie, I do at the stage hobby beekeeping but I'm looking at going into more commercial operation. My name is Norman Davies, I work for the Vanuatu Agriculture College and I also look after the college farm. My name is Esther Heather, I live in the Cook Islands, we've got a little farm and we keep pigs and a small apiary there. My name is Chuck McKay and I'm the Vice President of the Fiji Beekeepers Association. I'm also one of the lead trainers in the Fiji Beekeepers Association. My name is Niresh Kumar, currently I'm the President of Fiji Beekeepers Association. At the moment I'm bee in a honey farm and looking after bees and pineapple. Beekeeping has been an established industry in many parts of the world for centuries with honey and other bee products being highly sought after commodities. However, the Pacific region has only recently begun to explore the potential of beekeeping as a source of livelihood and economic growth. Beekeeping has been introduced to Vanuatu quite a while back but the industry never developed. A lot of people are afraid of bees because of the sting but they don't see the potential of what they can get now. In Fiji, 10 years back we were importing honey but now we have sufficient honey to export and also to supply the domestic market in the Pacific. I think most of the countries are not at the sufficient level to supply their own honey. The industry is developing but it is not without its challenges. We have limited nectar flow in the islands. We all commonly face the threat of cyclones. And the climate change with a long period of drought. Pests and diseases, extreme weather events, high humidity and temperature levels and unavailability of materials can all impact the health and productivity of bee colonies. Another challenge is the lack of targeted capacity development opportunities. Despite the abundance of online materials on beekeeping and temperate climates, they fail to address the realities and needs of the Pacific region. We have different methods of beekeeping than the rest of the world. Learning how to be a beekeeper has been a challenge in itself because a lot of the literature is for the northern hemisphere or even New Zealand. Because beekeeping you have to have a knowledge and skills and most of the farmers in the Pacific they don't have that knowledge that is needed. This underscores the urgency to create more targeted training to equip Pacific beekeepers with the necessary skills and knowledge to enhance the sustainability and profitability of this vital sector in their respective countries. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been working with Pacific beekeepers to address the challenges they face. In 2022 FAO in collaboration with the Fiji Beekeeper Association organized the first ever regional training on sustainable beekeeping in the Pacific. The course included sessions on queen breeding, honey harvesting, hive and equipment maintenance, honey bottling, value added products and marketing. The knowledge gained during the training has been further transferred to communities and farmers who are keen to give beekeeping a go. I got some great tips that I didn't know. I dabbled in it in the past and didn't have the best success rate but I think now I'm pretty confident to go back and know exactly what I need to do. When I head back I'm wanting to go and check out my hives again and I know of a couple that I'm wanting to requeen so I'm going to start doing queen grafting so I can replace some of my queens. And also I want to try and start as soon as I can on doing some of the value added products which I found very interesting yesterday. It was quite educational that it was basic. It was a simple thing to do but we just never knew how to do it. Beekeeping in the Pacific offers a world of opportunities. With the right support, continuous improvement and hands-on training, the Pacific beekeepers can continue to thrive while safeguarding the region's biodiversity. They are by providing nutritious honey products for consumers as well as income and work for their communities.