Berkeley Start-upsAncient Honey Wine Key to a Rainforest’s Future
by Tamra Teig
Conservationism, a disappearing rain forest, and an ancient libation were the inspirations for one man to pin his hopes on bees–to save the future of a community a world away.
While driving through the Kafa rain forest in his native Ethiopia on a visit in 2009, conservationist Ayele Solomon was in despair over the disappearing natural resource. Then he hit upon an idea to make the trees more valuable to local residents, so that they had an economic incentive to protect the remaining forest.
Many of the people in the Kafa forest region harvest honey by hanging beehives in the trees to attract wild bees. But the hollow beehives they use produce only a few pounds of poor quality honey per year. Like many global farmers who use traditional, inefficient methods, they often can’t produce enough food or income to support themselves.
The Ethiopians’ low incomes are forcing them to cut down the important Kafa rainforest (where coffee originated) for planting crops and to make charcoal from the wood. These practices have decimated the native tree cover in Ethiopia, which has plummeted from 40% to 3% in the last 50 years.
Solomon discovered that frame beehives, invented in 1852, produce up to ten times more honey than the hollow domed hives. He also knew that the flowering trees were an important source for his home country’s national beverage, t'ej (honey wine).
So Solomon decided to introduce Ethiopian honey wine, known for centuries to the English as mead, to people worldwide who appreciate beer and grape wine. With the help of biochemists, chemists, and winemakers, Solomon has worked for the past six years to make Bee d'Vine, a natural raw honey wine with the floral and fragrant qualities of honey, plus the balance and complexity of grape wine, without the tannins.
SUSTAINABLE, ORGANIC & CARBON NEUTRAL
Based in Sonoma, not far from where Solomon grew up, Bee d’Vine buys local northern California honey from family beekeepers with beehives in organic fields. There is no planting, no irrigation–no pesticides. They use spring water from their winery’s well, so they have no water transport emissions. Since wine glassware in the US is very limited, they buy carbon credits from Wildlife Works Carbon to offset the emissions from importing glass bottles from Italy and Mexico.
Solomon plans to use proceeds from the wine sales to finance the conversion of traditional Kafa beehives into efficient ones. He estimates this project will help Kafa families earn five times more household income, while saving their forest and reducing carbon emissions.
On a grander scale, Solomon and partners are working with the Ethiopian government on the largest conservation project in the country–to conserve 618,000 acres of Kafa for low-impact honey harvesting as a major alternative to the crop farming that’s driving deforestation.
It’s nice to think that such big changes started with such small insects.
Bee d’Vine honey wine is available at Bay area Safeway and Whole Food stores.
Bee d’vine website
NOTE: Ayele Solomon graduated from Berkeley with a degree in Environmental Economics & Policy. The Bay Area–based Ethiopian native is the director of project sourcing in Africa for Wildlife Works, the world’s leading REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) project development and management company.
