Tue, Nov 22, 2011
Dr. King's research has focused on the response
of the African Savannah Elephant to the
tiny honey bees.
British biologist, Dr. Lucy E. King and
an elephant
Bergen, 22 November 2011 The UNEP/CMS Thesis
Award has been conferred today to British
biologist, Dr. Lucy E. King, whose research
on reducing conflict between humans and
elephants has triggered quite a buzz in
Kenya.
Her research, based
on the fact that elephants are scared of
being stung by bees, has led to an innovative
beehive fence that is assisting to reduce
conflicts between the world's largest terrestrial
mammal and local people in Kenya.
At a ceremony in the
margins of a UN wildlife conference in Bergen,
Norway, Dr. King was presented with the
international research prize of the Convention
on the Conservation of Migratory Species
of Wild Animals of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP/CMS) for developing the
fence as a natural deterrent from crop-raiding
elephants.
"I congratulate
Dr. King as the winner of this important
award. Her research underlines how working
with, rather than against, nature can provide
humanity with many of the solutions to the
challenges countries and communities face,"
said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner.
"Investing and
re-investing in biodiversity and ecosystems
from forests to freshwaters is a key strand
of UNEP's Green Economy work as the world
heads towards Rio+20 next June. Dr. King's
work spotlights an intelligent solution
to an age-old challenge while providing
further confirmation of the importance of
bees to people and a really clever way of
conserving the world's largest land animal
for current and future generations,"
he added.
"By reducing conflicts
between people and elephants, Dr. Lucy King
has designed a constructive solution that
considers the needs of migratory animals
but also the economic benefits to the local
communities linked to species conservation,"
said CMS Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma
Mrema.
Dr. King's research
has focused on the response of the African
Savannah Elephant to the tiny honey bees.
In 2002 African honeybees were found to
act as a deterrent as elephants do not feed
on acacia trees hosting beehives because
they are afraid of being attacked, and once
stung, they will remember it forever.
Studying elephant behaviour
and communication was crucial to understanding
their patterns of avoiding honey bees. During
the experiment, elephants ran from the digital
playback of bee sounds and when doing so
transmitted a unique low frequency rumble
that warned other elephants in the area
to retreat. Based on the standard behavioural
pattern of elephants when interacting with
bees, Dr. King developed the beehive fence
as a device to prevent migrating elephants
from entering agricultural areas.
A two-year pilot project
started in Kenya in 2008 covering 17 farms
with fences and 17 farms surrounded by traditional
thorn bush barriers. Elephants pushing against
the wire connecting the different beehives
would shake them unpredictably and disturb
the bees. The beehive fences were built
with one beehive every 10 meters and an
elephant attempting to enter a farm would
instinctively try to bypass the beehives.
The beehive fence was
successfully adopted by farming communities
in three different districts, and by three
different tribes in Kenya. Ninety different
raids, or attempted raids, by elephants
were monitored, during which only six incidents,
or seven per cent, of elephants crossing
the beehive fences were recorded. Based
on this, Dr. King concluded that damaging
crop-raiding events could be radically reduced
for farmers adopting protective beehive
fences around their crops.
Finally, beekeeping
was listed as an equal income generator
next to farm work as farmers indicated that
beekeeping had become the third most time
consuming activity after farm work and charcoal
making in 2010. In comparison, scaring away
elephants was ranked eight among the most
time-consuming activities.
By studying elephant
behavioral patterns and designing protective
beehive fences, Dr. King not only provided
contributions to natural science but to
social science, which were translated into
community development. Moreover, the project
is now being replicated in Tanzania and
Uganda.
Notes to Editors:
CMS
The Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild
Animals (UNEP/CMS) works for the conservation
of a wide array of endangered migratory
animals worldwide through the negotiation
and implementation of agreements and action
plans. CMS is a growing convention with
special importance due to its expertise
in the field of migratory species. At present,
116 countries are parties to the Convention.
www.cms.int
UNEP/CMS Thesis Award
Lufthansa is offering
an award for the most outstanding PhD thesis
on the biology of migratory species of wild
animals. The award amounting to 10,000 is
conferred every three years at the CMS Conference
of the Parties.
Dr. Lucy King is the
third winner of the Thesis Award for her
thesis on "The interaction between
the African elephant (Loxodonta africana)
and the African honeybee (Apis mellifera
scutellata) and its potential application
as an elephant deterrent" submitted
to Oxford University in 2010.
+ More
UNEP Co-Hosts Beijing
Forum on Ecosystem Management and the Green
Economy
Thu, Nov 17, 2011
UNEP, together with the Chinese Academy
of Sciences (CAS), will host a high-level
international forum in Beijing to examine
ecosystem management and the need for a
transition to a Green Economy.
On 18 November 2011,
UNEP, together with the Chinese Academy
of Sciences (CAS), will host the High-level
International Forum on Ecosystem Management
and the Green Economy in Beijing -an international
gathering of experts, scientists and government
officials from around the world - to look
at ecosystems and their management and the
need for a transition to a Green Economy.
These are current and
critical topics. The Earth's ecosystems
are the natural foundation of human civilization.
However, ecosystems have been profoundly
degraded over the last 50 years and pressure
on them continues unabated.
In a recently released
report, Keeping Track of Our Changing Environment,
UNEP has shown through peer-reviewed indicators
how natural resources, from species extinction
to biodiversity loss are being depleted
or degraded at rates that are breaking historic
records. But concrete evidence also shows
that ecosystem management and a Green Economy
can halt and reverse this trend. The Economics
of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a
broad partnership involving UNEP, is a major
international initiative to draw attention
to the global economic benefits of biodiversity
as well as to highlight the multi-trillion
dollar costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem
degradation.
The Forum will produce
a communiqué on ecosystem management
which will be taken as a recommendation
for the upcoming summit on sustainable development,
popularly known as Rio+20, in Brazil next
June.
The meeting will also
mark the launch of the International Ecosystem
Management Partnership (IEMP), a joint initiative
of UNEP and CAS. IEMP will be a China-based
international programme promoting ecosystem
management in all developing countries,
particularly in Africa.
Media, including photo/video,
attending the forum must register in advance.
Lunch will be included.
When: 09:00-18:30, 18
November 2011 (Friday)
Where: Institute of
Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources
Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.11A
Datun Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing
Who:
Mr. Zukang Sha, Under
Secretary General, United Nations Department
of Economic and Social Affairs,
Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Under Secretary General,
Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP),
Mme. Julia Marton-Lefevre,
Director General of the World Conservation
Union (IUCN),
Mr. Bjorn Roland Stigson,
President, The World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD),
Sir Crispin Tickell
(Director, Policy Foresight Programme, James
Martin Institute for Science and Civilization,
Oxford University),
Mr. Art Hanson, International
Chief Advisor, China Council for International
Cooperation on Environment and Development
(CCICED),
Officials from the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Chinese Ministry of
Environmental Protection, Chinese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, National Science Foundation
of China will also attend and speak at the
Forum.
