"Owls for Peace": this is the ambition of a major Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian project initiated in 2002 in the Jordan Valley. The Barn Owl, a voracious predator, serves as a biological control agent to combat population spikes of rodents that devastate crops for farmers in the region.
A predator, certainly, but also a diplomat: this project has an environmental starting point, as it reduces pesticide use, but also has a diplomatic aim, bringing together conflicting countries that must work together for the sovereignty of their national agriculture.
Sarah Dirren discusses this with Alexandre Roulin, biologist, full professor and researcher at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and leader of the "Owls for Peace" project.