A Little Help From Bees

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Kenya’s coastline is rich in mangroves, trees that thrive in salt water, providing a breeding ground for fish, helping prevent erosion, offering protection from harsh weather, and food, medicine and wood for dwellings for local communities.

But mangroves, both in Kenya and worldwide, are under threat from excessive logging. A 2018 showed that 40 percent of Kenyan mangroves had been degraded.

“We knew loggers cut mangroves to get money but didn’t realize they are destroying mangroves in the process,” Zulfa Hassan, who works to protect her forest on Pate Island, told the Nature Conservancy.

In the port city of Mombasa, locals such as Peter Nyongesa have tried to stop the loggers – in vain. “They retort that the trees do not belong to anyone but God,” Nyongesa told the Associated Press.

In response, locals have hit upon a novel approach – getting a little help from bees to protect the trees.

They would place hives high up the trees so that loggers would not see them. “When the loggers start cutting down whichever tree, the bees will attack due to the noise,” conservation group leader Bibiana Nanjilula explained.

The stinging solution’s effects are hard to gauge, the group said, but it offered one bonanza. By pollinating the coastal forest’s flowers, the bees not only boost plant reproduction, they also make delicious honey that locals say has medicinal benefits.

In the Lamu region, bees have even become the livelihood of people who used to be loggers or fishermen – in effect curbing mangrove degradation and overfishing – Kenya’s Daily Nation reported.

“One (manmade) beehive, during a good harvesting season, can produce between 15 and 20 kilograms of honey. This has enabled us to sustain our families and forget about fishing or logging,” said fisherman-turned-beekeeper Mohamed Hassan.