Knowledge Management Portal

Many solitary wasps and 70% of wild bees nest below ground and require protection during this long and crucial period of their lifecycle. However, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, since 2002 assigned to safeguard soil biodiversity, excludes ground-nesting pollinators by focusing on species directly providing four ecosystem services contributing to soil quality and functions. Recent research has demonstrated the extent of threats to which ground-nesting pollinators are exposed, namely chemicals, deep tillage and soil compaction. Ground-nesting pollinators contribute indirectly to soil quality and functions as 87% of all flowering plants require pollinators. Without pollinators, soil would lose all ecosystem services provided by these flowering plants e.g., litter, shadow, roots for habitats and erosion control. Above- and below-ground biota are in constant interaction. Therefore, the key-stakeholder, the Food and Agriculture Organization should protect ground-nesting pollinators explicitly within soil biodiversity conservation.

30% of all wild bees need cavities for nesting, but old wood and hollow stems get scarce in orchards and monocultures. Therefore, farmers depend more and more on ground-nesting pollinators, while cavity nesting bees shift more and more to forest and semi-natural areas. However, ground-nesting pollinators face high threats during their below-ground life. Beehotels are not costly, you can build them in short time out of old material available at all farms. The video also explains how to promote that ground-nesting pollinators can reproduce on farm. Whereas the need for more floral resources is more known meantime, the lack of nesting material and nesting sites is a widely overseen main reason for pollinator decline. We will circulate a new ISI publication highlighting the urgent need of enhanced environmental governance for ground-nesting pollinators within the next days.

“This is the first time something like this has been done in Uzbekistan—never before have women beekeepers been involved in developing an app”, reflected a woman beekeeper in Tashkent. In 2021, the AI-Driven Climate-Smart Beekeeping for Women (AID-CSB) project worked with women beekeepers in Ethiopia and Uzbekistan to localize the Beekeeper’s Companion app, a decision-support tool for hive management. On this Women’s Day, we take a look at what women beekeepers in Ethiopia and Uzbekistan had to say about their challenges and goals, and explore in which ways the AID-CSB project is getting involved.

On this Human Rights Day, guest author Dr. Sarah-Beth Hopton explores the relationship between human rights and climate, exploring how the inclusion of women in technology design offers a solution. This blog is an excerpt from the forthcoming AI-Driven Climate- Smart Beekeeping (AID-CSB) for Women’s final report, to be released in early 2022.

In collaboration with ICARDA’s MEL team, icipe, and HiveTracks, smartphone training was given to beekeepers participating in the AI-Driven Climate Smart Beekeeping (AID-CSB) for Women project in Ethiopia. This training focused on building capacity and confidence in technological skills, which the beekeepers will soon use to pilot a hive management app to increase their climate resilience. The training included demonstrations and peer-to-peer learning activities on essential smartphone functions and additional skills needed to use the Beekeeper’s Companion App.

Earlier this month, the AI-Driven Climate Smart Beekeeping for Women (AID-CSB) project held training workshops on the Beekeeper’s Companion app and relevant beekeeping practices. 20 women and 4 men beekeepers participated in hands-on training, practicing using the beta version of the app on demonstration hives. The app is still undergoing customizations based on beekeepers’ feedback and a free version will be shared with all Uzbek beekeepers in the near future.

Within FAP, both the farmer and biodiversity benefit from the land employed for habitat enhancement through the use of marketable habitat enhancement plants (MHEP). The article demonstrates the advantages of this land-sharing approach in comparison to State-of-the-Art land sparing for biodiversity protection through reward-based wildflower strips. On average FAP increased net income per surface by 121% and reduced pest abundance by 65%. The trials include seven main crops - zucchini, pumpkin, melon, eggplant, tomato, faba bean and okra – and four typical Moroccan agro-ecosystems: region with adequate rainfall near Kenitra, semi-arid region around Settat, mountainous region near Sefrou and oasis in Errachidia. Furthermore, the article presents a simulation with conservative assumptions on the potential of FAP to enhance food security by higher production per surface and thus reduce the need to use more and more semi-natural land for agriculture to meet the growing the demands. Conventional agriculture with monocultures and pesticides endangers crop pollinators in agricultural land and the current trend in land-use change threatens pollinators depending entirely on semi-natural land. The article is authored by Stefanie Christmann, Youssef Bencharki, Soukaina Anougmar, Pierre Rasmont, Moulay Chrif Smaili, Athanasios Tsivelikas and Aw-Hassan.

The Sudan National Technical Committee agreed on a two-day symposium, revolving around Smart Agriculture, Role of ICT in Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services, Communication and Facilitation Skills, Value Chain, Gender Role and Knowledge Sharing, Pandemic and ICT (risk mitigation measures based on KM best practices).