Project RE HAB Reducing Elephant Human Attacks using Bees was launched in Assam.
Highlights:
The Project RE HAB creates bee fences, where the honey bees in these fences stop elephant attacks in human habitations.
They discourage the elephants without harming them and are more cost-effective than erecting fences or digging trenches.
It also raises honey production and improves farmer income, and helps to address https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change issues by regenerating forest cover.
The bee boxes, around 15 to 20, are placed in the premises of human habitation. They are placed as fences.
The buzz of the bees irritates the elephants the most as they fear that the honey bees might sting them in their trunks and eyes so, they do not walk ahead of the boxes.
The boxes are connected with a string, and as the elephants try to pass through the string, a pull or tug causes the bees to swarm towards the elephant.
The Project REHAB is implemented by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
The Project RE-HAB is a submission to the National Honey Mission of KVIC, which launched to provide awareness and training in using bee boxes and the bee colonies. The mission was launched in 2017, first in Karnataka.
It will be launched in West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Between 2014 and 2019, around 403 deaths happened due to elephanthuman conflict.
Three hundred ninety-seven deaths happened in Odisha, 349 in Jharkhand, 332 in Assam, 170 in Karnataka and 289 in Chhattisgarh.
Around 500 elephants died in the human-elephant conflict alone in the last five years.