1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Ljubljana
Region
Europe
Short description of the intervention
To promote bee-keeping, the city created the Bee Trail - a circuit where visitors can discover Ljubljana's beekeeping heritage and the significance of bees for our survival. The Bee Trail was designed and opened in 2015 as one of the activities within the Green Capital of Europe 2016 project. It was originally conceived only as an actual route between individual locations related to beekeeping and bees in Ljubljana. Through the participatory principle of working with individual members, however, it has been shown that the path is much more than just a work program or project. It has become synonymous with all activities related to bees and beekeeping in Ljubljana. Since 2011, the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association has awarded municipalities the title of the most bee-friendly municipality. The City of Ljubljana has been awarded the most bee-friendly municipality - in 2017 and 2019. (1)
Address

City wide project
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
Central Business District / City Centre
Website of the intervention
https://www.ljubljana.si/sl/moja-ljubljana/podezelje/cebela-v-ljubljani/cebelja…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2015
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2015
End date of the intervention
2017
Present stage of the intervention
Completed
Goals of the intervention
The goals of the project are:
(a) increase and development of beekeeping in the wider area of ​​the City of Ljubljana (education of beekeepers, financial aid for the development of activities, co-financing the operation of five beekeeping societies),
(b) development of beekeeping in the urban core, where the emphasis is on safety, awareness and education of citizens, the rules of beekeeping in the urban space,
(c) creating new tourist products by presenting the natural and cultural heritage associated with beekeeping in the city,
educating the youngest and designing pedagogical programs, and
(d) development of new urban apiaries and bee stands. (1 and 2)
Quantitative targets
unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Habitat and biodiversity restoration
Habitat and biodiversity conservation
Green space creation and/or management
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Environmental education
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Preservation of natural heritage
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
Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
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
Biodiversity offsets
Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
Raise public awareness
Public engagement
Create and use scientific knowledge for conservation
Protect and apply traditional knowledge and conservation practices
What types of restoration goals are / were defined for the NBS intervention?
Species-focused
What activities are implemented to realize the restoration goals and targets?
Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
Restore valued species
Restore ecological connectivity
Public engagement
Implementation activities
Organized tours of the Bee trail, development of the urban beehives and deployment across the city. In addition, following implementation activities are taking place,
(a) a physical path that connects the city and the countryside into a whole.
(b) a network of beekeepers, cultural, educational and health organizations, companies, non-governmental organizations, as well as individuals interested in beekeeping and its development in urban areas.
(c) an educational program aimed at raising the awareness of key target groups about the importance of bees.
(d) think-tank and an incubator for the development of new business ideas.
(e) a movement that unites all interested parties who want to maintain high environmental awareness. (1 and 2)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Maintenance and management of urban nature
Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Other
Parks and urban forests
Other
Please specify "other urban green space connected to grey infrastructure"
Beehives
Please specify "other parks or (semi)natural urban green area"
Habitats and green spaces for bee keeping
Vegetation Type
Shrubs
Trees
Flower beds
Garden beds
Please specify how many trees were planted
Unknown
Amenities offered by the NBS
Educational or biodiversity trails
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
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Maintenance of genetic diversity
Cultural services
Tourism
Inspiration for culture, art and design
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Physical and experiential interactions with plants and animals
Scale
Spatial scale
Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Researchers/University
Citizens or community groups
Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)
Young people and children
Governance
Governance arrangements
Government-led
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The initiative is taken by the City Municipality of Ljubljana. Five bee keeping societies: Barje, Ljubljana Moste-Polje, Tacen, Ljubljana Center and the Urban Beekeepers Association. Individual volunteers and association are invited and welcome to join free of charge. (1 and 6)
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Researchers/university
Land owners
Private sector or company
Educational actor (schools or universities)
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 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. (2)
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
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
Green Ljubljana - Ljubljana as the European Green Capital Award campaign in 2016 as a policy tool of 7th Environment Action Programme (EAP. (1)
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
Municipal / city level environmental plan or programme
Urban redevelopment plan
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Many networks of beekeepers, cultural, educational and health organizations, companies, non-governmental organizations, as well as individuals interested in beekeeping and its development in urban areas are developing, such as the BeePathNetwork. (1)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
API kindergarten program: In the 2019/2020 school year, the Bee trail included the first five kindergartens in Ljubljana in the program. Api Kindergarten is a professional-pedagogical program. (6)
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
No
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
Public local authority budget
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Green densification model
Urban offsetting model (biodiversity or water)
Green education model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Type of innovation
Social
Economic innovation
Cultural innovation
Please specify social innovation
A new way of educating about the importance of the bees for life and supporting economic activity of the urban beekepers in Ljubljana. Also supporting tourism and the pride of the citizens in the city, making it a policy innovation (1 and 3)
Novelty level of the innovation
The innovation is completely new without connections to previous initiative(s)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Based on the available information, the intervention is an innovation, without too much connections to the previous initiaties (4).
Replicability/Transferability
Ambiguous (e.g. multiple interpretations)
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
In continuation of this intervention, BTC has initiated a new campaign of sharing plants for urban balconie, to support urban bees, which the bee trail has popularized among the citizens (5).
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Increase in protected green space areas
Reduced biodiversity loss
Increased protection of threatened species
Enhanced support of pollination
Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
Description of environmental benefits
1. The project has been very successful in keeping the biodiversity high by preserving bee species. This has created as many as 4,500 hives.
2. Additionally, this included the creation of new green areas and 3. the green areas are now protected. 4. The project also supports pollination and 5. has increased the ecological connectivity across the beekeeping sites. 5. In addition to beekeepers, the City of Ljubljana also takes care of bees by planting perennials in public areas with many honey plants and numerous incentives for beekeepers. (1, 6 and 7)
Economic impacts
Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
Generation of income from NBS
Description of economic benefits
1. The bee trail has increased local self-sufficiency by creating for self-employment. 2. Every second Saturday in October bee trail organizes an event to sell their products. This event calls and attracts businesses from the outskirts of the city to come and join the local beekeepers. 3. SMGO - Slovenian honey system with a geographical indication. Ljubljana honey has its own corporate image and is a Ljubljana protocol gift. (1 and 7)
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
Increased access to healthy/affordable food
Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
Education
Increased support for education and scientific research
Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Description of social and cultural benefits
1. In Ljubljana, beekeepers can produce chestnut, flower and forest honey, as these pastures are available to bees. This provides them an opportunity to produce their own food for consumption or to sell.
2. The beginnings of beekeeping in Ljubljana dates back to the time of the first settlements in this area. The current intervention brings back that history and promotes the cultural heritage.
3. As many as 3% of all Slovenian beekeepers with more than 4,500 hives work in the area of ​​the City of Ljubljana.
4. API kindergarten program in Ljubljana kindergartens carry out activities once a week on the topic of Carniolan lavender bees, bee products, pollinators, biodiversity and environmental protection, healthy lifestyle and nutrition and horticulture. (1 and 7)
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Events organized per calendar year, number of new volunteers and organizations engaged and amount of honey produced and sold (both inside the country and exports). (1 and 7)
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
other
Paid employment positions
Voluntary work opportunities
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Positive distribution of NBS benefits
Increased access to healthy food for humans and/or animals
Please specify other method used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Feedback from the customers and members (1)
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
Collection of monitoring data at specific time intervals during the project to aid evaluation
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Focus groups
Questionnaire surveys / online surveys
Observation (including virtual surveillance methods)
Other
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
Yes
Mode(s) of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Other
Please specify other modes of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Citizens are encouraged to participate voluntarily without any fee and get engaged in the assessment through working meetings. (1)
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Yes
Please specify
Citizens are encouraged to participate voluntarily without any fee and get engaged in the assessment through working meetings. (1)
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Green Ljubljana information on the Bee Trail
Official website
Going Green on Ljubljana's efforts to become Green Capital
Telegraph on Ljubljana's beeking enthusiasm
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
greensurge_case_study_ljubljana.pdf (1.61 MB) 1.61 MB
List of references
1. Green Ljubljana. (2016) "Homeland of the Urban Bee.", available at http://www.greenljubljana.com/blog/homeland-urban-bee-0 [site under construction as on 2nd November, 2020]
2. Ljubljana Municipality. (2016) "Čebelja Pot" available at https://www.ljubljana.si/sl/moja-ljubljana/podezelje/cebela-v-ljubljani/cebelja-pot/. accessed on 2nd November, 2020.
3. Sustain Europe. (2016) "Going Green" available at http://www.sustaineurope.com/going-green.html. accessed on 2nd November, 2020.
4. Leadbeater, Chris. (2017) "The surprising nation that loves bees more than anywhere else in the world." available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/slovenia/articles/beekeeping-slovenia-world-bee-day-ljubljana/. accessed on 2nd November, 2020.
5. BTC. (2016) The buzz in town. available at https://www.btc.si/en/press-releases/2016/04/the-buzz-in-town-urban-bees/. accessed on 2nd November, 2020.
6. Ljubljana Municipality. (2020) Čebela v Ljubljani. available at https://www.ljubljana.si/sl/moja-ljubljana/podezelje/cebela-v-ljubljani/. accessed on 2nd November, 2020.
7. Hotel park, B&B hotels (2020) BEE PATH. available at https://www.hotelpark.si/cebelja-pot/. accessed on 2nd November, 2020.
Comments and notes
Public Images
Botanical Garden
Botanical Garden
Photographer: Dunja Wedam, retrieved 09/20/2018 from Sonja Juranovič (Promotial Material Production Coordinator)
Bee Trail
Bee Trail
Photographer: Aleš Fevžer, retrieved 09/20/2018 from Sonja Juranovič (Promotial Material Production Coordinator)