here are around 500 species of stingless bees in the tropics, including those belonging to the Meliponini genus. The honey is highly prized for its taste and medical properties.
The bees live in hollow trees and branches, but due to the value of the honey, trees are sometimes cut down just to get to the honey. Not only does this destroy trees in the rainforest, but also the thousands of plants that depend on the bees for pollination.
We want to try and mass produce stingless beehives, which will be free-issued (or provided at cost) to individuals and organisations that want to grow the bees, initially in Panama and Costa Rica. This will help prevent trees from being cut down; it will protect the bees and all the plants that they pollinate. The bee hives can also generate self-sustainable local enterprises.
The question is, does anyone have a design that could be used by laser cutting CNC software such as Lightburn? The design must be simple and easy to clip together with the minimum of tools.
