Cober srl

Cober and Skyway Monte Bianco join forces

Cober srl

Bees protect biodiversity more than any other species, but they are also among the most affected by climate change. We are well aware of this and, to celebrate World Environment Day on June 5th, we started a collaboration with Skyway Monte Bianco, the cableway that starts in Courmayeur and goes up to 3,466 metres.

The point of union between us and the cableway will be two Polly Houses, little houses for the pollinator bee Osmia Rufa – commonly known as the solitary bee – from agri-tech company 3Bee, which we will donate to the cherry tree forest, repopulated with trees, as it was in the past, by Skyway in collaboration with CVA Energie and RAV (Raccordo Autostradale Valdostano).

This way, we have joined forces: the marvellous hill of blossoming cherry trees, overlooked by the cableway, as well as already being a great benefit to the environment by capturing high levels of CO2 and thus mitigating global warming, a fundamental support in slowing down glacier erosion – an intervention that is part of Skyway’s environmental project Save the Glacier, which monitors the perennial snows and warns of the thaw in progress – will become a new home for solitary bees, protecting this insect that is as small as it is important for our ecosystem.

 

“Being involved in the mountains business, it is imperative for us to be invested in environmental protection. Preserving bees, a species greatly affected by climate change and a real thermometer of the health of the planet, means protecting biodiversity: that is why it is important for us to support 3bee projects.” – Alice Covini

We have already adopted a beehive from agri-tech company 3Bee, producer of intelligent monitoring and diagnostic systems for bee health, for the past two years, and satisfied with this experience we decided to share it, in order to increase the benefits of the cherry tree forest, a magical place of natural beauty and concrete daily help in protecting the environment.

The Polly houses located in the forest have an external wooden structure that conceals a special internal arrangement of bamboo canes to house the eggs. As soon as they are born, the bees will start flying from flower to flower to collect nectar and pollinate the surrounding vegetation, considering 3Bee’s little houses, where they are born, their base to colonise in order to give birth to new generations of solitary bees, thus creating a perfect virtuous circle. In order for the Osmias to work properly among the branches of the cherry blossom trees, each Polly House has one hectare of land surrounding it, so our decision to donate two little houses will ensure that the entire area is covered.

Once repopulated by Skyway Monte Bianco, the cherry tree forest now has a great ally who will contribute to the wonderful blossoming of the landscape surrounding the cableway and the maintenance of this environmentally beneficial ecosystem.