On 4th December 2018 the European Bee Award ceremony took place in the European Parliament. The Award, co-organised by CEMA and ELO - the European Landowners’ Organization - has now arrived to its fifth edition. Its goal is to promote projects contributing to the protection and preservation of bees and other pollinators.

The winners of this years’ prize were:

  • For the “Land Management Practice” category: Vivencia Dehesa a project whose main objective is to actively manage a private protected natural area in a sustainable way in order to improve biodiversity
  • For the “Innovative technological solutions” category: Sem ‘Obord, an innovative sowing machine for field margins. Sem ‘Obord is a narrow seeder installed on an arm of a flail mower, which gives it the possibility to seed different habitat types, such as field margins and road sides.

A special Jury mention was awarded to Beescanning, an smartphone app which analyses the health of bee colonies and provides early warning in case of bee parasite problems.

The event was hosted by MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz, and it featured keynote speeches by Director General of DG Environment Daniel Calleja Crespo and a video intervention by Commissioner Karmenu Vella.

The ELO was represented by its Secretary General Thierry de l’Escaille, while Gilles Dryancour did the honours on behalf of CEMA.

Take a look at the event pictures here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmoDtW1y

Read the event press release here