News

COSTA RICA

Curridabat, a small city on the edge of the Costa Rican capital of San José, has granted pollinators (bats, bees, butterflies and hummingbirds) and endemic plants and trees citizenship!

Nicknamed the Sweet City* Curridabat has transformed its urban planning and new developments reflect the connection between humans and wildlife. Former Mayor, Edgar Mora (credited with transforming the city into a haven for wildlife over his 12 year term in office) said: “Pollinators are the consultants of the natural world, supreme reproducers and they do not charge for it. The plan to convert every street into a bio corridor and every neighbourhood into an ecosystem required a relationship with them. People in cities are prone to defend nature when it is far away – a distant concept. But they tend to be negligent when it comes to protecting nature in their immediate environment.”

*Since 2015, the Sweet City Initiative has created community events where residents plant flowers and trees endemic to Curridabat as well as exotic plants. Citizens, businesses, and institutions are provided with the Sweet City Greenery Guide, detailing what and how to plant, which plants will bear fruits, the creatures that like each plant, and which types are medicinal. They are made aware of the climatic conditions ideal for each plant, the urban context where they should be planted, and other factors. All this extra vegetation gives the ‘gang of pollinators’ more places to work. As thousands of these creatures return to pollinate, Curridabat becomes sweeter and the natural process of ecology takes over with plants thriving and citizens becoming healthier.

Source: www.livekindly.co

HAITI

The commune of Bonbon lies at the western most tip of Haiti. It shares its name with the traditional Haitian sweet, ‘bonbon’, a cake made with dark sugarcane syrup and sweet spices. Thanks to Hilarion Célestin and a group of local beekeepers, the area is now wellknown for another kind of sweet: honey.

Growing up in Bonbon, Hilarion learnt his trade at an early age. Many of his peers grew up in families learning about fishing and production of local crops such as bananas, cassava and plantains, Hilarion grew up among beehives. Recently the area’s reputation for honey production has continued to grow.

With help from an FAO project, Hilarion has increased his honey production

COVID 19 impact

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic spelled disaster for the island in many ways. The impact on health and the medical system was followed by the economic impact. Agricultural work decreased, as farmers were required to stay at home because of Government containment measures.

Hilarion now wants to strengthen the Beekeeper’s Association, boost his marketing and sell his products in local and national markets

The ‘honey business’, was one of few exceptions to this rule. Hilarion and the 30 other members of Bonbon Beekeepers Association (BBA) noticed that there was a marked increase in demand for their honey due to its wide use in traditional Haitian medicine.

Before the Covid 19 outbreak Hilarion was selling his honey to customers in the Arrondissement of Jérémie and the capital Port-au-Prince, but due to the containment measures and restrictions on movement, he had to adjust: “To fully respect measures to mitigate spreading the virus, we had to adapt our production and marketing techniques. I applied the hygiene rules recommended by the Ministry. I do not meet more than two people at a time, with a 1.5m distance between us and I am committed to helping my community members.”

Honey production

The BBA was set up with the support of FAO and the Haitian Ministry of Environment, as part of the Action Against Desertification (AAD) project. BBA collaborates with the neighbouring Abricots Beekeepers Association, and other groups in the Department of Grand’Anse, to promote beekeeping production in the area and market their honey under a common label.

FAO’s AAD project is funded by the European Union and has been supporting Hilarion and his fellow beekeepers since 2016. By supporting beekeeping livelihoods, the project seeks to increase income, while encouraging protection of natural resources and enhancing pollination.

Hilarion is playing a waiting game until Haiti’s COVID-19 containment measures are lifted. He is eager to set new plans in motion: strengthening the organisation of BBA to improve the collection, packaging and marketing of the honey to push it out further into local and national markets and continue to increase production with the knowledge gained from the AAD project training. These are uncertain times for Haiti like all countries around the world – but for the Haitian honey sector, the future looks bright.

Source:

www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1294992/

INDIA

India is home to an estimated 27,000 elephants, more than half the global Asian elephant Elephas maximus population.

With the rapid shrinking and fragmentation of their habitats and travel corridors, elephants are increasingly forced out of the forest in search of food. This puts them in direct conflict with humans. Between 2014 and 2019, 2,361 humans and 510 elephants were killed following conflict.

Prachi Mehta, research director at the Wildlife Research and Conservation Society (WRCS), since 2009 has been testing low-cost and safe deterrents in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state in South India. The district, with an area of 10,300km 2 and rapidly depleting forest cover, is home to 70-80 elephants. There have been no casualties related to human-elephant conflict since WRCS began working with more than 700 farmers.

“Every human-elephant conflict situation is different,” says Mehta. “Elephants are highly intelligent animals and become habituated to deterrents requiring us to rotate measures or invent new ones. Our aim is to provide farmers with simple, inexpensive deterrents to protect their crops. Solutions need to be community-wide to be effective and we encourage an entire village to participate in crop guarding.”

Many factors determine the effectiveness of methods, including the time of year and farm location. Human presence is the main deterrent. Night guarding from a tree watchtower, with a low-cost, early-warning system – a trip alarm – works well.

For farmers living close to an evergreen forest, there is another lucrative deterrent – a beehive fence. These fences were first successfully trialled and implemented in Kenya by Dr Lucy King of the Elephants and Bees Project. Inspired by a meeting with Dr King, Mr Mehta decided to try out the fences. Farmers in Uttara Kannada have traditionally practised apiculture and are comfortable handling colonies. There were concerns about the effectiveness of bee fences in India as the Asian honey bee Apis cerana is less defensive than African honey bees Apis mellifera.

However, WRCS’s programme officer, Ravi Yellapur, says: “367 farmers in the district have beehive fences. Since I joined the project in 2015, there has not been a single instance of an elephant breaching a bee fence to gain entry”.

The locally made fences consist of 8-10 hollow logs, 30cm in length with a wide cavity, hung between two wooden poles at intervals of 10m. The logs are connected to each other by strong wires. The inside of each log is coated with a liquid mixture of beeswax, cinnamon and jaggery (unrefined sugar). Both ends of the log are plugged, except for one or two small holes that allow the bees to enter. The bees are drawn to the logs by the aroma of the mixture.

The bees help increase crop yield while the honey harvested twice a year provides additional income for farmers. About 4kg of “elephant-friendly” honey is taken from a hive each harvest selling for Rp300 (US$4; €3) per kilo. This financial incentive, coupled with the regular awareness sessions conducted by WRCS and the local forest department, has helped build a tolerance to elephants among the community.

“We focus on human-elephant conflict, yet elephants are symbolic of all wildlife. We must learn to cohabit”. Mahesh Rangarajan, Elephant Task Force

Sources:

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/12/ a-taste-of-honey-how-bees-mend-fences-betweenfarmers-and-elephants-aoe

www.wrcsindia.org/human-elephant-coexistence

Workshop for Farmers

“Bees are very useful for the environment and for the human community. Beekeeping is an art to generate income for farmers and improve their economic status. Farmers can develop methods to build ‘bee empires’ in their plantation. Pollination by the bees will improve crop yields also”, reported retired bee inspector Shri Sathyanarayana Bhatt during the one-day Workshop in March conducted by the Horticulture Department of Karnataka State. The Karnataka Government will fund farmers to aid economic growth and generate rural employment opportunities.

Shri Venkatesh Kavalakodu, Karnataka State

Shri Venkatesh Kavalakodu hosted the Workshop on his farm. Fifty-eight participants visited the beekeeping area in an Areca palm plantation to see the different types of cultivated crops

ZIMBABWE

Creative and innovative Kelvin Machowa is a young man who completed his A levels but went no further with his studies. He is a level one trained beekeeper who works with our team in our apiaries and bee workshop in Rusape where he earns a modest wage. With the experience Kelvin has gained, he decided to establish his own apiary with hives he constructed in our workshop using offcuts of timber and boards.

I like the idea of Kelvin establishing his apiary using locally available resources. This asset-based approach makes him different from many young people who think about beekeeping initiatives from the needsbased approach (donor syndrome). Kelvin saw himself surrounded by assets which he mobilised to start his own apiary. In addition to the timber he can access bees, land and trees to site his hives, people with knowledge and skills and support and encouragement from other young beekeepers. Kelvin makes use of what he has around him to build capacity to acquire what he does not have.

In the development journey there is no one with nothing. We all have assets around us to start projects. The way we understand the needs-based approach and the assets-based approach will make a difference.

Kelvin has an apiary with six hives and is expecting them to be occupied as we approach the swarming season (August). I wish other young people can do the same as Kelvin: a champion in our community among several of his age in Makoni District.

“Development of any society depends largely on young people and investment in today`s youth is an investment in the future for the nation. They become responsible citizens, good parents, effective decision makers, make an efficient workforce and are leaders of tomorrow” – Rojen Suntoo

Robert Mutisi, Forestry Executive, Makoni Beekeepers’ Association, Manicaland

Kelvin Machowa has established his apiary using locally available resources

Kelvin has access to important assets: land and trees to site the hives he made from timber offcuts

PROPOLIS POTENTIAL

Propolis is widely used in traditional herbal medicine and as a health aid and immune system booster. The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed interest in propolis products worldwide. Various aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism are potential targets for propolis compounds. Propolis components have inhibitory effects on the signalling pathways within the virus and in addition, antiviral activity has been proven in vitro and in vivo. In pre-clinical studies, propolis promoted immunoregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, reducing the risk of cytokine storm syndrome, a major mortality factor in advanced COVID-19 disease. Propolis has also shown promise as an aid in the treatment of various of the co-morbidities that are particularly dangerous in COVID-19 patients, including respiratory diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Standardised propolis products with consistent bioactive properties are now available. Given the current emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and limited therapeutic options, propolis is presented as a relevant, therapeutic option that is safe, easy to administrate orally and is readily available as a natural supplement and functional food.

Citation:

Berretta AA, Duarte Silveira MA, C’ondor Capcha JM, De Jong D,Propolis and its potential against SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanisms and COVID-19 disease,Biomedicine and amp; Pharmacotherapy(2020), doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110622