Living beehive launched to raise awareness of climate change

Razor's Kalay Maistry and NTT Data's Marian Scala named in Provoke Media’s Innovator 25 EMEA

Danette Breitenbach

Inspired by just how innovatively a beehive is constructed and how efficiently it works in its environment, traditional Zulu beehive huts, known as iQhugwane, were designed to mimic nature's smart engineering. They provided highly efficient homes that were warm in winter and cool in summer, with built-in ventilation and using natural, sustainable materials.

Today, in South Africa's quest to find ever more innovative responses to climate change, a new concept for The Living Beehive has been developed. It applies the architectural techniques of the original Zulu Beehive Hut construction, but combines modern day materials such as steel frames with nature's own building materials such as indigenous plants. It represents the type of innovative thinking that is needed if South Africa is to address the impacts of climate change and the need to find solutions to a low carbon economy that can also create sustainable jobs.

The Living Beehive was officially launched at the Durban Botanic Gardens in eThekwini Municipality on 30 November 2011. The event aimed to raise awareness of the value of biodiversity and ecosystems approaches for dealing with climate change. The event also saw the announcement of the SANBI - South African National Biodiversity Institute's - accreditation as the National Implementing Entity (NIE) for the recently established Adaptation Fund of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).