To protect mangroves, some Kenyans combat logging with hidden beehives

July 29, 2024 9:08 AM

To protect mangroves, some Kenyans combat logging with hidden beehives
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (13 comments total)

I could not love this more. Peter Nyongesa, you are a hero.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 9:44 AM on July 29 [5 favorites]

this is brilliant!! I mean people really don't need to be so afraid of bees, but if it helps protect forests, I'll spin up a PR campaign on the the dangers of those pointy little girls.
posted by supermedusa at 10:40 AM on July 29 [2 favorites]

I'm with them up to the point where someone with a bee allergy dies.
posted by senor biggles at 10:46 AM on July 29

Great idea, really great idea.

I've done a lot of public planting and a common problem is idiots in cars deliberately driving over trees at speed, one solution (partial but pedagogical - for the driver!) was driving a 30mm diameter steel bar into the ground near to the tree just above sump height. Very dramatatic. An organic solution would be nicer.
posted by unearthed at 11:02 AM on July 29 [2 favorites]

Wouldn't this just cause loggers to dump insecticides on the area before logging?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:08 AM on July 29

senor biggles your point is valid, and I am trying to figure out how I feel about it.

so far I've got: poachers who get killed by the animals they were illegally hunting (we tend to cheer on the animals in those cases). fuck around, find out? I acknowledge that the death of any individual logger could be devastating for their family etc., but how long before word got out that logging those trees killed someone and people stop? I know it's not a very charitable or compassionate response but we need those trees more than ever and we've got to figure out ways to protect them that work.
posted by supermedusa at 11:09 AM on July 29 [4 favorites]

Got to be honest, if you are lethally allergic to be venom, logging may not be the profession for you.
posted by Rudy_Wiser at 11:15 AM on July 29 [9 favorites]

I'm with them up to the point where someone with a bee allergy dies.

Removing mangroves contributes to human deaths, too, though -

mangroves help protect houses from storm surges/cyclones

and mangroves also soak up carbon dioxide - and climate change kills people through heat stroke and through extreme weather events (like more cyclones).

So if a bee kills one logger, but keeping the mangroves keeps 1000 people alive who would have died without the mangroves...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:18 AM on July 29 [8 favorites]

Ah yes, the trollbee problem
posted by funkaspuck at 11:24 AM on July 29 [11 favorites]

as long as the discussion isn't swamped by bee lioning
posted by away for regrooving at 11:52 AM on July 29

While Senegal is on the other side of the continent, maintaining mangroves is both vital and difficult. (Come for the mangrove restoration, stay for the carbon credit fuckery.)
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:53 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]

Apparently Kenyans also use bees in a similar way, to ward off elephants from places where elephants shouldn't be.
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:27 PM on July 29

I'm with them up to the point where someone with a bee allergy dies.

Back in my forestry worker days, sometimes I’d hear about loggers getting warned that random trees in an area scheduled for logging had had metal spikes hammered into them (in case anybody’s wondering, it’s very bad news for chainsaws).

So, I suppose the beehivers could find ways to warn the loggers about the bees. And if the loggers respond by insecticide dumping, I guess the beehivers could consider buying some big nails.
posted by house-goblin at 9:05 PM on July 29