The UAE, a dry region, experiences a long, intense summer from May to September, with temperatures reaching up to 50°C and high humidity. The winter months are milder with temperatures between 16 and 24 °C. These extreme summer conditions pose major chal lenges for beekeeping, as excessive heat can severely affect the health and productivity of bee colonies. In these hot months, queen bees reduce or even stop laying eggs, brood development slows down and worker bees can stop rearing brood altogether, resulting in a weakened colony. In addition, water scarcity and dehydration further complicate colony managemen t, so it is crucial to find effective ways to maintain bee health in such demanding conditions. Challenge: What innovative strategies can be developed to enable bee colonies to thrive despite extreme heat and limited water resources? Possible focuses: • Hive Design and Modification : Discover innovative hive designs or modifications that can better regulate indoor temperatures and reduce water losses. • Water management: Developing efficient methods to provide bees with a constant source of water even in times of scarcity. • Supplements: Investigate supplements or feed formulations that can improve bees' resistance to heat stress and dehydration. • Colony management practices: Develop adaptive beekeeping practices that minimize stress for colonies in hot weather. Potential Areas of Focus: • Supplemental Feeding Systems: Design innovative feeding methods or nutrient - rich supplements that can sustain bee colonies when natural forage is unavailable. • Efficient Water Collection and Distribution: Explore creative ways to provide a stable water supply, such as water - harvesting systems, moisture - retaining materials, or other arid - friendly methods. • Forage Plant Cultivation: Identify drought - tolerant plants that could be cultivated near apiaries to provide a reliable pollen and nectar source throughout dearth periods. • Adaptive Colony Management Practices: Develop seasonal management techniques, such as hive insulation or strategic hive placements, that help conserve colony resources and minimize stress during extreme conditions. Summer heat/water management Location and design of a beehive Design To ease heat stress for the bees, you should use hives with light wood and good insulation, such as pine wood, which contains more air than others and therefore it is easy for the bees to cool them at a constant temperature for the colony itself as well as for the brood. It is also possible to use beehives made of polystyrene, which is light, light, has a good insulation value and, unlike wood, does not attract moisture. Another point would be to paint the hives light, with white paint, as this reflects sunlight and black absorbs sunlight. It is also advantageous to use high sticks and to have a grid at the bottom and in the lid so that the warm air rises through the draught and thus a constant exchange of air takes place. With the high sticks, the draught would work the same way as with a c himney, so the higher the better. It would be best to use wood as a lid, as metal only heats up roofs and hives unnecessarily. Location When choosing a location, it is particularly advantageous to place the hives in the shade, if this is not naturally available, you could also consider stretching a sun sail over the hives to avoid direct sunlight. You should also place the poles far away from stones, as they fluctuate greatly in temperature between day and night. Very hot during the day and cold at night. It is best to place the sticks a few centimeters away from the ground on the best surface offers grass here, as these do not have s uch strong temperature fluctuations as sand and stones. It is also an advantage if there is a flowing water nearby, as it pulls cold air currents with it and the bees do not have to travel too far to the water to cool it. The most important thing, however, is that the bees have access to water, as they need it to cool the hives. It is also advantageous to place the hives at a distance so that the air can move around the hive from all sides and thus the wind carries the heat away with it The most important thing, however, is that the bees have access to water, as they need it to cool the hives. Drip irrigation First of all, I would set up an irrigation system for the plants near the hives. The wisest and most economical way would be to irrigate at night so as not to let too much water evaporate. Next, it would be good to carry out the irrigation close to the gro und, otherwise the plants could burn due to the water droplets on the leaves and flowers and due to the long distance in the air, losses also take place, especially through the wind and evaporation. Irrigation close to the roots is also one of the most eff ective methods for the plant itself, as it has water available quickly and thus there are almost no to no losses. Humus and soil structure It should also be noted that the soil is well supplied with humus, as it can store a lot of water in the soil. Fertilizing the plants also helps to ensure that all the nutrients that the plant needs are available and thus the plants can develop optimally. And thus the nectar of the plant and the bees are already supplied with water. For this purpose, the soil can be mulched, supplied with animal fertilizer or with crop residues, with this organic matter the soil organisms convert into humus and thus humus layers build up, which help the plant to develop. Legumes should also be planted in the meadows, these are not only good sources of nectar for the bees, but they also bring nitrogen into the soil and the soil life is stimulated, the result is a crumbly structure in the soil, which in turn improves the water and nutrient balance in the soil. It is also important not to step on the soil on which the plants grow too often, this leads to soil compaction. With a compacted soil, less water can also be stored and root growth is also limited to the more upper layers of the soil. To avoid soil compaction, scarifying could also be done in spring. To prevent soil drying out as well, it is possible to set up wind arrest fences or plant hedges so that no wind blows over the ground and dries it out. Hedges have an advantage for bees (nectar source) and prevent drying out in the soil. Cultivation Likewise, you should not have monocultures on the lawn: if you mow a lawn intensively, only one type of grass grows here, which weakens the soil, because a plant only needs one group of nutrients and thus others are available in excess and others are defic ient. Therefore, mow the lawn less often or leave areas completely untouched (permaculture) this promotes plant diversity and soil structure and animal diversity such as butterflies, beetles, .... To give the soil more shade, deep - rooted trees would also be in demand. Collection Rain tanks would be ideal for collecting and saving water, these tanks could also be created in the form of pools or small ponds. On these small ponds, floating balls, boards or other things would have to be placed on the water so that the bees find it eas ier to absorb water and the sun's rays on the water surface are minimized, and therefore less evaporation and no harmful bacteria develop for humans and animals due to the UV radiation. It is also possible to put wet sponges in the shade and the bees have to suck out the water. "Especially between 2011 and 2017, California had a extreme drought phase . That's why experts developed the idea of shadow balls. In total, they released around 96 million of the black, hollow balls the size of an apple into the Sylmar Water Reservoir in Los Angeles in 2015. They should also maintain water quality and prevent a lgae growth and evaporation." (Spiegel, 2018) With a water evaporator, salt water from the oceans can also be converted into drinking water and this can also be used by the bee for cooling. It was possible to set up large glass bottles filled with salt water, this water would evaporate, the salt would remain in the first tank and the fresh drinking water would run off into other tanks, only with the help of the heat of the sun. Food As mentioned above, if the soil is healthy, the plant will also be healthy. But when feeding, it is important to provide enough water, it is smart to set it up, perhaps in the lower area of the hive to avoid evaporation, and the water that evaporates rema ins in the hive and is not released into the outside air. Hive managment As a beekeeper, I can make it easier for the bees in my work to look into the hive in the evening and not in the hottest midday sun. I should also consider looking into the hives first when the weather is a little worse or cooler.