Nairobi, 18 October 2012 - The Truth about elephants and bees - UNEP CMS and Lufthansa Thesis Award winner talks in UNEP HQ in Nairobi about the use of African Honeybee fences for a crop and livelihood protection. The talk will take place on Thursday 18 October at 12:45pm.

The British biologist, Dr Lucy E. King, was the winner of the Lufthansa and UNEP/CMS Thesis Award 2011. Dr. King is the author of a most outstanding dissertation about the interaction of the African Elephant Loxodonta africana africana and the African Honeybee Apis mellifera scutellata. With her thesis she made a unique discovery that African Elephants will avoid feeding on acacia trees that host beehives, regardless of whether they are empty or occupied by African Honeybees. As elephants migrate over large distances, they are confronted with fences and human settlements, which constrain their migration. By raiding crops and tearing down man-made barriers, elephants potentially pose a threat to local populations. African honey bees act as a deterrent to elephants and thus prevent conflicts between the largest terrestrial mammals and humans.

The relevance to the vision and goals of UNEP/CMS to protect and improve the conservation status of migratory animals as well as sophisticated structure and methodology presented in the thesis were the main factor in the Jury’s choice.

The 2011 Thesis Award of €10,000 sponsored by Deutsche Lufthansa was presented to the winner at CMS COP 10, 20-25 November, in Bergen, Norway.