Hamburg is humming

"As a manager of biodiversity, I studied biodiversity on the sites of Veolia Environmental Services and identified beekeeping as an ideal means to educate my colleagues about nature.Since I just started training as a beekeeper, this project has arrived in the nick of time!With the energy and experience of its two initiators, it's sure to be a tremendous success."

Isabelle Neumann

Stiftung für Mensch und Umwelt (Foundation for Man and the Envionment) was created in 2010 by Dr Corinna Hölzer and Cornelis Hemmer.The former, a biologist, has been active for years in communication and networking of players in the area of sustainable development.The latter, a geographer, mediator and trainer, has worked in the field of nature conservation, particularly as head of the Environmental Center of the Lake of Constance, and creator of a regional environmental conservation network for the Bund national association.Their Foundation gets together people from various walks of life to open up new prospects and create new alliances in the field of sustainable development.It collaborates with research centers, corporations, cultural institutes, the media, the administration and NGOs.It organizes seminars on management, mediation, moderation and networking, and rewards exemplary communication and cooperation initiatives every year.Thanks to its software "communication check and sustainable networking", the Foundation analyzes the strengths, weaknesses and initiative potential of the players that it supports.

Bees on the roofs of Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and now Hamburg

In recent years, Stiftung für Mensch und Umwelt has been systematically exploring the themes of biodiversity and sustainable consumption with the "Deutschland summt!" (Germany is humming) project.Launched in Berlin in 2010 under the title "Berlin is humming - honey on the roofs of famous buildings", it is designed to arouse public awareness and respect for bees, beekeepers and urban nature.It has been applied in many German cities (Frankfurt, Munich), each project being designed so that it functions independently of the Foundation in the medium term, thanks to local cooperation.

Like its predecessors, the "Hamburg is humming!" project involves installing beehives, managed by professional beekeepers, on five to seven of the city's best known buildings.Thanks to a strong communication campaign (neighborhood parties, action projects, website, interactive exhibition on bees, guided tours, slideshows, etc.) and the participation of the citizens at several levels (volunteers, cooperative projects, photo rally, gardening competition, plantation projects on public land, geo-day of biodiversity, excursions for schoolchildren, etc.), its objective is to educate the institutions and citizens in environmental conservation.

A travelling show on bees and biodiversity

Alongside other foundations, the Veolia Foundation is contributing to the purchase of the flagship tool of the project: a mobile house containing an interactive exhibition on bees, beekeepers and their role in fostering biodiversity.It is provided to the project's partners: beekeepers, gardeners and other players in the cultural, scientific, political and associated world, and demonstrated at several events throughout the city.