Young Climate Prize cohort member Jin Gao, originally from China, gathered research on bees in high-altitude Bogotá, and used his findings to design a low-cost monitor that can be installed into a standard beehive. This allows beekeepers to perform remote inspections, rather than causing disruption to the hives prematurely, and maintain the health of the species. Alongside the monitoring system, Gao suggests environmental improvements to the hives, including how some can be insulated to help raise survival rates of their inhabitants in a changing ecosystem.

Anthropologist Alder Keleman Saxena was Gao’s mentor during the three month period of the Young Climate Prize. Alder carries out similar work that Gao has spearheaded with SmartHive, drawing connections between locally specific ethnobotanical and biocultural practices and larger political-economic contexts. Alder is a co- editor of Feral Atlas: the More-Than-Human Anthropocene and participated in The World Around Summit 2021.