The forests in eastern Zimbabwe supply the country with wood and most of its fresh fruit.
But the removal of large numbers of trees and use of fire to clear land have caused a lot of damage to the area.
Officials say Zimbabwe lost more than 1.5 million hectares of forest in 2016. This is mostly because of local communities cutting the trees for firewood or setting fires in forested areas to make hunting easier.
But now a non-profit group, called Environment Africa, is trying to improve the situation.
Environment Africa is teaching farmers to raise bees. The group is working in the Mutasa district, near the country's border with Mozambique. And it has already helped about 1,500 farmers.
Benjamin Chatambura is one such farmer. He has set up about 250 beehives near his home. The insects live on structures called apiaries.
Chatambura sells the honey the bees produce and uses the money to feed his family. He likes having bees on his land because the insects help him and the forest.
The trees provide us with flowers, he says. That is the food for the bees to produce the honey. If there were a way, I would like more land to plant more different types of trees. We used to have serious problems before we were trained in the importance of the forest.
Lawrence Nyagwande is with Environment Africa. He says some farmers are earning as much as $1,000 a month from selling honey. The average government worker in Zimbabwe earns just about $500 a month.
Nyagwande said beekeeping is helping improve the country's forests.
Now if you look around, the forest in Mutasa are now improving because the communities are also collaborating with the adjacent timber industries to try and fight the forest fires. And at the same time, the plantations which are adjacent, have also allowed communities to also put their hives in their plantations as a way of trying to keep out forest fires.
Support for this project has helped bring attention to protecting the environment, and caught the attention of the government.
Violet Makoto represents Zimbabwe's Forestry Commission, a government agency that works to protect forests. She says the commission hopes local community leaders will take up beekeeping. She said officials also want to end the use of fire to clear land.
That can get us into a stage where we've totally eliminated the issue of field fires, because this has been responsible for the greater loss of the forests that we have been registering over the years.
Sustainable forest management does not only help the beekeepers. Officials say it protects the health of the timber industry and the businesses it supplies.
I'm Jill Robbins.
What they expected to be the removal of a small lump turned out to be major surgery.
If they wanted to eat something sweet, they had to locate a beehive, smoke out the bees and retrieve the honey, often by climbing up a tree or chopping it down.
He sat in an adjacent room and waited.
Part of the garden was railed out for beekeeping.
1.He has set up about 250 beehives near his home.
set up 成立，设立
The two sides agreed to set up a commission to investigate claims.
Grandfather set them up in a printing business.
2. ... because the communities are also collaborating with the adjacent timber industries to try and fight the forest fires.
collaborate with... 与……合作
Will you collaborate with me to finish the project?
I collaborate with my girlfriend for the story who lives across the world.
工作人员表示，2016年，津巴布韦损失了150多万公顷的森林 。这主要是因为当地社群为了获取柴火而砍树，或者在森林焚火来方便打猎 。
该组织教农民养蜂 。该组织在穆塔萨区工作，该地区在津巴布韦与莫桑比克边境的附近 。目前为止，该组织已经帮助了近1500位农民 。
本杰明就是这样一位受到帮助的农民 。本杰明在自己家附近设立了近250个蜂房 。蜜蜂的栖息地就叫蜂房 。
本杰明将蜜蜂产的蜂蜜卖掉，用这笔钱来养家糊口 。他喜欢这片土地上蜜蜂的存在，因为蜜蜂帮助了他，也帮助了森林 。
树木给我们带来了花朵，本杰明说 。这是蜜蜂赖以用来产蜜的食材 。如果可能的话，我希望可以在更多的土地上种植不同种类的树木 。在我们参加培训并了解到森林的重要性以前，我们存在很多问题 。
劳伦斯是“非洲环境”的一名工作人员 。劳伦斯表示，一些农民光靠卖蜂蜜，每个月就能赚到1000美元 。而津巴布韦一名普通的政府工作人员每个月只能赚500美元左右 。
现在，如果你环顾四周，（你会看到）穆塔萨的森林资源正在逐步改善，因为很多社群正在与附近的木材业合作，力图抗击森林火灾 。与此同时，这附近的森林资源也让很多社群得以将蜂房放在森林里，这也是防止森林火灾的一种途径 。
比奥莱特是津巴布韦林业委员会的一名代表，该政府机构的工作就是保护森林 。比奥莱特表示，该机构希望当地社群的领导能够重视养蜂 。比奥莱特还表示，该组织的工作人员还希望能够停止用焚火来开垦土地的方式 。
可持续的林业管理不仅能够帮助养蜂者 。工作人员表示，其实还能够保护木材业以及木材业供给业的健康发展 。
Jill Robbins为您播报 。