Project to repopulate Spain with 47 million Iberian bees begins

About Smart Green Bees projectIt was introduced by technology company LG, in collaboration with the technical partner of the initiative, the association El Rincón de la Abeja, and artisanal beekeepers from different regions of Spain, such as Malaga, Valencia or Barcelona.

The Iberian or Spanish bee is the only native species of the Peninsula.however, its population is rapidly decreasing due to factors such as drought, diseases affecting the species and low profitability of beekeepers since it is not the most productive breed for honey production.

One bee per person

aims to broaden the scope of the initiative. Apis mellifera iberiensis across Spain up to 47 million new bees over a two-year period, “one for every inhabitant”, Paola Vecino, president of the El Rincón de la Abeja association, explains to Efe.

“We choose settlements that are conducive to this expansion of herds.Dressed in a beekeeper’s outfit from a farm in the Montes de Málaga Natural Park, “where sustainable beekeeping can be done and it becomes a benefit for the ecosystem” is where they placed the first beehives to help this demographic recovery of the Iberian bee.

In Malaga, artisan beekeeper José Sebastián Sánchez, who was the founder of Mieles Joseíllo ten years ago, collaborates on the projecta local firm with a long tradition and sustainable production, because “it has the exact number of hives corresponding to this area due to the current flower load,” says Vecino.

Just a twenty-minute drive from the capital city of Málaga, we can find a wide variety of plants such as sage, gorse, rock rose or cantahueso in this mountainous region. of the year”.

Iberian honey bee pinterest

On this farm, which also has goats, dogs and chickens, 14 hives have been installed so far, but it is estimated to be 45 soon: year and medium,” says Vecino.

In the first stage, a newly created hive can contain between 5,000 and 6,000 bees, but this number may reach 60,000 after a few months.. This expansion usually takes place between spring and summer.

But because beekeeping is not mathematical and there are “thousands of factors” that can hinder the progress of a hive, supporters of the Smart Green Bees project have “overestimated” the number of swarms they need to place. There may be diseases and other losses caused by natural and uncontrollable causes that prevent the development of the honeycomb.

“For example, it is quite common for wild boars to attack hives in this region, so we try to select a few settlements and overestimate the number of swarms that would be needed to reach these 47 million bees to ensure the success of the project,” says Paola Vecino.

Biometric tracking systems

The hives installed in Malaga contain biometric tracking systems that “do not affect the development of the herd in any way” and they allow a simple assessment of the demographic growth of bees in each beehive.

This technology also provides relevant information such as weight, indoor humidity, temperature or the sound of bees to monitor the health status of the hives in real time.

According to LG, Each of the fifteen beehives set up in Malaga already contains around 15,000 bees and this figure will increase in the coming months, thanks to the wealth of flowers in the surrounding area and the “privileged climate” of the province, which “allows 300 days of sunshine a year to provide efficient and non-intrusive care”.

It has some morphological features that distinguish the Iberian bee from other bee species. Apis mellifera: They are dark colored, with smaller and longer tongues than European bees, with slightly blurred stripes, and they exhibit somewhat irritable and aggressive behavior.

The campaign is also running actions in other Spanish cities such as Montroi in the Valencia Region and Sant Climent de Llobregat in Catalonia.

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Contact details of the environment department: [email protected]