1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Ljubljana
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Pomagajmo čebelici v mestu
Short description of the intervention
BTC, a private company that has three shopping centres in Slovenia - one in Ljubljana - has engaged in supporting Carnolian Honey bees in Ljubljana through the "Let's help the bee in the city" project. As part of this, the company has placed beehives at the BTC shopping mall, primary school and distributed plants for people around Ljubljana to put on their balconies to support urban bees. In 2014, an urban apiary with four bee families was set up on the meadow behind the Atlantis waterfront, drawing attention to the importance of preserving Carniolan lavender and bees for the environment. They also take care of young people who are enthusiastic about urban beekeeping with the project. With the competition "Bee-friendly school", a nice teaching apiary was set up for primary school children in the area of ​​the Medvode primary school. One of the urban beehives can also be visited by prior arrangement for organized groups. The project is still ongoing encouraging citizens to plant their balconies and window boxes with honey plants and by doing so provide the city bees with sufficient forage. (1, 2 and 6)
Address

Šmartinska cesta 152
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

Location
The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Building
Website of the intervention
https://www.btc.si/en/press-releases/2014/04/btc-city-ljubljanas-new-neighbours…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2014
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2014
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
1. Preservation of the native Carniolan honey bee and its complex, incredibly important role in nature.
2. Setting up urban beehive at BTC shopping mall in Ljubljana
3. Encouraging citizens to plant their balconies and window boxes with honey plants and by doing so provide the city bees with sufficient forage. (2)
Quantitative targets
Setting up one beehive on BTC building, Engage as many residents as possible (2)
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Habitat and biodiversity conservation
Green space creation and/or management
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Preservation of historic traditions
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Sustainable production
Habitats and biodiversity conservation: What types of conservation goals are / were defined for the NBS intervention?
Species-focused
Habitats and biodiversity conservation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Protect and enhance urban habitats
Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
Create new habitats
Protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect native species
Undertake specific measures to protect valued species
Means for conservation governance
Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
Raise public awareness
Public engagement
Implementation activities
In 2014, an urban apiary with four bee families was set up on the meadow behind the Atlantis waterfront, drawing attention to the importance of preserving Carniolan lavender and bees for the environment. BTC along with the city municipality also took care of young people who are enthusiastic about urban beekeeping with the project. With the competition "Bee-friendly school", a nice teaching apiary was set up for primary school children in the area of ​​the Medvode primary school. (6)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Nature on buildings (external)
Balcony greens
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Other
Please specify "other urban green space connected to grey infrastructure"
Beehives
Vegetation Type
Shrubs
Flower beds
Amenities offered by the NBS
Educational and research amenities (nature protection centre, monitoring stations)
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Raw materials
Medicinal resources
Regulating services
Pollination
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Maintenance of genetic diversity
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Scale
Spatial scale
Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Local government/Municipality
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Led by non-government actors
Non-government actors
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
Initiated by the private sector, but the municipality supports it. (2)
Key actors - initiating organization
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Land owners
Private sector or company
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Land owners
Private sector or company
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Dissemination of information and education
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Yes
Please specify the "Regional Directive/Strategy"
Green Capital 2016 - directly mentioned (2)
European Green Capital Award (EGCA) is a policy tool the European Commission is using to address urban sustainability challenges, which recognises and rewards local efforts to improve the environment, the economy and the quality of life in cities. 7th Environment Action Programme (EAP) underpins the EGCA as a policy tool which is directly mentioned in the documents.
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
Ljubljana's campaign for European Green Capital Award 2016 (2)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
BTC and Ljubljana Municipality develop similar projects to jointly educate the citizens on the importance of the bees and to support Slovenian honey bees as part of Ljubljana's campaign for European Green Capital Award 2016 (2).
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
Corporate investment
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Urban offsetting model (biodiversity or water)
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Social
Governance innovation
Cultural innovation
Please specify social innovation
Supporting bees in an innovative way and at the same time promoting Ljubljana as the bee capital, honey production and tourism. (2)
Novelty level of the innovation
Ambiguous (e.g. multiple interpretations)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Not mentioned if this is innovation copied from somewhere else, but the Telegraph praises level of conciousness about bee iportance in Ljubljana. Ljubljana's bee keepers' association has been petitioning the UN to make in Slovenia already recognized 20th of May as a World Bee Day, a global affair – and looks to have met with success. May 20, 2018 – is likely to be the first “World Bee Day”, official rubber-stamp permitting (3).
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Although numerous bee related affairs are springing across the city, there is no document confirming how this initiative affected the others (3).
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Reduced biodiversity loss
Increased protection of threatened species
Enhanced support of pollination
Description of environmental benefits
1. Urban beekeeping in Ljubljana has flourished in the past few years with the help of the above project along with some other. 2. By planting honey plants which are also native to the area the project is helping the bees and the environment in a simple and lovely way, not just the beekeepers. 3. The project is helping to conserve the Slovenian bee and native plant species. 4. These honey bees will also make an important contribution to plant pollination in the area. (1, 3, 4, 5 and 6)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Increased awareness of flora and fauna as culturally and historically meaningful
Education
Increased support for education and scientific research
Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Description of social and cultural benefits
1. Encouraged citizens to plant their balconies and window boxes with honey plants and by doing so provide the city bees with sufficient forage.
2. The initial days of the project enabled visitors to get an insight into urban beehives, take a walk on the Bee Path and discover the challenges of urban beekeeping. This has increased their knowledge about the importance of bee and beekeeping.
3. The project also helps the production chain – promotion of fruit and vegetable production and animal husbandry.
4. The project is also promoting the beekeeping tradition of the country which dates back to prehistoric settlements.
5. A special part of the “Help the city bee” project focuses on young people. Hoping to awaken an interest in beekeeping among the younger population (the average age of beekeepers is 50), students of primary schools in Ljubljana. (1, 3, 4, 5 and 6)
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Number of people engaged and number of pupils got educated (1 and 6)
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of November, 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
BTC - support the urban bee
Information on the Bee support campaign in English
Telegraph on bee enthusiasm in Ljubljana
List of references
1. BTC city. (2014) BTC CITY LJUBLJANA’S NEW NEIGHBOURS – URBAN BEES. available at https://www.btc.si/en/press-releases/2014/04/btc-city-ljubljanas-new-neighbours-urban-bees/. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
2. BTC city. (2016) The Buzz in Town. available at https://www.btc.si/en/press-releases/2016/04/the-buzz-in-town-urban-bees/. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
3. Leadbeater, Chris. (2017) "The honey obsessed country with two million people and 100,000 beekeepers". available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/slovenia/articles/beekeeping-slovenia-world-bee-day-ljubljana/. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
4. The Slovenia Times (2014) Urban Bees Get Apiary in Ljubljana's BTC Mall. available at http://www.sloveniatimes.com/urban-bees-get-apiary-in-ljubljana-s-btc-mall. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
5. Ljubljana Municipality (2017) Let’s help the bee – plant flowers in the city. available at https://www.ljubljana.si/en/news/lets-help-the-bee-plant-flowers-in-the-city/. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
6. Ljubljana Municipality (n.d.) BTC - City Ljubljana. available at https://www.ljubljana.si/en/ljubljana-for-you/environmental-protection/towards-circular-economy/examples-of-circular-economy/btc-city-ljubljana/. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
7. Ljubljana Municipality (2019) Ljubljana – most bee-friendly municipality in 2019. available at https://www.ljubljana.si/en/news/ljubljana-most-bee-friendly-municipality-in-2019/. accessed on 6th November, 2020.
Comments and notes
Public Images
Beehive at the Green Garden of Atlantis Water Park in BTC City
Beehive at the Green Garden of Atlantis Water Park in BTC City
Maja Oven, retrieved 09/04/2018
Urban Bees
Ljubljana Municipality
https://www.ljubljana.si/en/news/lets-help-the-bee-plant-flowers-in-the-city/