EU Platform on Coexistence between People & Large Carnivores

In the beginning of May the EU Platform’s annual Plenary Meeting focused on several topics of long-term interest to the Platform members. Following on from initial information gathering and discussions during a Platform workshop in Goslar, Germany in 2018, we discussed how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2021-2027 can be used to finance coexistence measures. It is very clear to all of us that financial support to protect livestock against large carnivores and compensate for damages caused, are important elements for reducing impact on livestock and resulting conflict and that we need to ensure that countries and regions plan sufficient resources through EU funds or their own budgets. However, we also agreed that funding alone will not suffice. Those living most closely with large carnivores, especially livestock owners and herders who are most affected by depredation, have to feel involved in decision-making processes.

In this context, we consider that opportunities to exchange views and improving mutual understanding are essential. This is why we continue our exchange with regional platforms, including those supported by the European institutions in Grosseto, Italy; Harghita, Romania and Avila, Spain. The platforms are all making progress and we had an interesting exchange of views at the EU Platform Plenary Meeting on how the EU Platform members can help to communicate information on and between the regional platforms. In particular, the progress of the Grosseto Platform is very promising and we were delighted to have organised a joint workshop in Florence 8 May, where they presented a series of actions agreed by all stakeholders.

Jurgen Tack
Scientific Director of the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO)
Co-chair of the EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores

The sixth annual meeting of the EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores took place in Brussels on 13 May 2019

Measures supporting coexistence in the context of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) were discussed and the Platform members agreed recommendations for the new CAP for the European Commission, managing authorities and stakeholders (see below). The establishment of regional platforms was a second important agenda item. The lessons learned during the process of setting up platforms in Italy, Romania and Spain through a pilot project were discussed (see below). The afternoon’s agenda focused on attitudes towards large carnivores including the aspect of fear and how communications on large carnivores can reach different audiences.

The Commission legislative proposals for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020 provide an opportunity for the EU and Member States, with the input of key stakeholders, to further tailor and design specific measures to support biodiversity and farming systems that deliver environmental benefits. This includes protecting livestock farming from potential damages caused by large carnivores. Financial support to protect livestock against large carnivores and compensate for damages caused, are important elements for reducing impact on livestock and resulting conflict but will not suffice without other communication and exchange actions.
 
Preliminary information presented to the EU Platform members at their plenary meeting in May 2019, suggests that not all Member States are fully identifying coexistence measures in their Priority Action Frameworks (PAFs), identifying their priorities and funding needs for the implementation of the Nature Directives for 2021-2027. To reduce conflicts related to large carnivores across the EU, it is essential that the European Commission, the Member State managing authorities and the concerned stakeholders on the EU to local level, work together to find solutions and ensure that all the existing funding and support opportunities are taken up.

The EU Platform members therefore agreed a statement listing a number of recommendations for the European Commission, managing authorities and stakeholders on how to work together to include relevant measures in their PAFs and in the CAP and national funding.

The EU Platform aims to engage with similar regional groupings which focus on conflict around large carnivore presence in different areas in the EU. The two EU-funded projects on the establishment of regional platforms on people and large carnivores work together with stakeholders to discuss issues around large carnivore coexistence on the national, regional or local context. Three regional platforms have been established in Italy, Romania and Spain, while the scoping to establish further platforms has begun in three Member States.

In Grosseto, Italy, six interactive workshops were held and joint actions have been agreed and are currently being prioritised (see below for more information). An action plan for implementation is being drafted. Further, an exchange trip was made to Sweden for sharing knowledge on participatory monitoring systems.
In Harghita, Romania, three platform meetings have taken place during which a problem and goal analysis as well as reflection of the different interests were carried out. In further three meetings, the platform is discussed concrete actions and how they can be prioritised for the Harghita context.
In Avila, Castile y Leon, Spain three meetings have been held where participants expressed their expectations for the platform and collaboration with other stakeholders and agreed upon a common mission.

The Grosseto Platform was established in 2018 as part of a regional platform pilot project funded by the European Institutions. After engaging in an intensive facilitated, participative process involving six workshops over a period of around so many months, the members have succeeded in agreeing a range of joint actions to support livestock producers living within the wolf range which were presented during a regional workshop in collaboration with the EU Platform.

The around 30 participants representing livestock breeding industry, conservation and animal welfare interests as well as local authorities managed to reach agreement on which actions were highest priority for improving coexistence between livestock management and wolf presence. The agreed joint actions address different aspects of the issues related to large carnivores: 1) incentives to improve extensive livestock management conditions, 2) promotion of knowledge and effectiveness in prevention, 3) monitoring of population characteristics, 4) communication on large carnivores and agricultural activities. The EU Platform expressed their support of the process and the actions agreed in a statement agreed at their plenary meeting.

Carnivore Damage Prevention News (CDPNews) is a professional newsletter focused on the complex challenges presented by the coexistence of large carnivores and human activities. It acts as a forum to raise awareness of practical solutions, to facilitate collaboration among researchers, policy makers, agricultural consultants, hunters and farmers and to improve knowledge exchange between countries as well as across the boundaries of traditional disciplines.

The next issue of CDPNews will summarize and provide updates on the compensation of damage prevention - the essential outputs of several workshops held during the last two years. The evaluation of prevention measures is also a subject as well as the labelling of “bear friendly” products. Additionally you find some abstracts and recommendations for books and further useful information for all stakeholders.

CDP news can be subscribed to or viewed on the AGRIDEA website who manage the newsletter until 2022.

In November 2018, the Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) agreed a Recommendation on the use of artificial feeding as a management tool of large carnivore populations and their prey, with a particular emphasis on the brown bear.

In the recommendation, which aims to promote co-existence of viable populations of large carnivores with sustained development of rural areas, the committee expresses concern about the use of supplementary feeding as a management tool. The use of supplementary feeding may modify carnivore density and distribution and is causing conservation concern because of the possible increase of its use without the control of possible negative consequences. The recommendation asks that Contracting Parties to the Convention:

1. “Examine where appropriate the impact on ecosystems of artificial feeding of large carnivores aiming to better understand the way in which it may affect other species and the behaviour, numbers and health of the target large carnivores;”
2. “Regulate as appropriate artificial feeding practices aimed at large carnivores, taking into account the position statement of the IUCN’s Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe which is available in appendix to [the] recommendation.”

In 2018, the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE) published a policy support statement on the management of bold wolves, outlining prevention, documentation, intervention and information needs for successful management. The statement also identifies research priorities for the future.

In February 2019, the European Commissioner for the Environment Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella and the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan wrote to the Ministers for the Environment and Agriculture in the EU Member States regarding the situation of the wolf in Europe. The letter acknowledges the challenges faced by many member states in addressing conflicts associated with wolves and describes the work the European Commission has carried out in this respect. It highlights the opportunities available to Member States to support coexistence between people and large carnivores with EU and state funding.

The Commission has amended the European Union Guidelines for State aid in the agricultural sector in order to allow Member States to grant full compensation to farmers for damages caused by protected species such as large carnivores including the indirect costs such as veterinary bills and labour costs. This also allows member states to cover the full costs of prevention measures such as building electric fences or acquiring guard dogs. A fuller briefing is available on the platform website.

The EuroLargeCarnivores team has compiled a report on different perspectives of people living and working with large carnivores across Europe. It provides insights from several round table workshops that have brought together diverse stakeholder groups across 14 countries to discuss the challenges and solutions of sharing one environment with large carnivores. Farmers, foresters, hunters, conservationists, researchers, representatives from public authorities, politicians and others have identified solutions together to improve conservation management practices and to reduce the potential for economic losses. Based on these findings, the report makes a series of recommendations that could improve human-large carnivore coexistence.

Download the report (web version; print version).

The LIFE WolFlux project aims to promote the ecological and socio-economic conditions needed to support a viable wolf population south of Douro river so that it can play its functional role as a top predator. To achieve this, a series of actions will be implemented over five years to reduce the main threats to this large carnivore.

The European Commission’s Natura 2000 Award, which honours leading nature conservation achievements, is now starting its fifth edition. The call for applications has just been launched and will be open until 30th September 2019.

The Natura 2000 Award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in the management and promotion of the network and its objectives, and to raising awareness about Natura 2000 and its benefits to European citizens. To this end, in addition to the prizes for five categories attributed by an experts jury, an “EU Citizens’ Award” goes to the application receiving the highest number of preferences through an open public vote on the Award website. The winners will be announced by the future Commissioner for Environment at a high level ceremony in Brussels in May 2020.

16 April 2019 Europarc held a webinar supported by the EU Platform on Large Carnivores in Transboundary Parks 2019. Roderick Enzerick from FACE presented the EU Platform and a case study on hunters involvement in monitoring in Scandinavia. Snorre Hagen, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research and Ludek Bufka, Šumava National Park presented further cases on how cross-border monitoring can be implemented successfully. The webinar can be watched online here.

At the Ministerial Environmental Conference on “Large Carnivore Management”, which took place in Bucharest, at the Palace of Parliament between 6-7 of June 2019, the representatives of the EU member states discussed the challenges that countries face and also the solutions that can be found for a better management of the large carnivores. Humberto Delgado Rosa presented the European Commission’s actions to support member states in improving coexistence with large carnivores. Valeria Salvatori, IEA, presented the work carried out under a pilot project to support regional platforms on large carnivores being established in several different member states.

On 5 of June 2019, the CIC (International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation), a member of the EU Large Carnivore Platform, held a preparatory meeting ahead of the Ministerial Conference on Large Carnivores in Bucharest, Romania. CIC members and partners discussed the current large carnivore situation in Europe and the role hunters currently play and could play in helping to minimise conflicts and improve coexistence. CIC and FACE prepared a joint statement aimed at the subsequent Ministerial Conference, with recommendations on changes to the management of large carnivore populations in Romania, and elsewhere in Europe, with a view to improving coexistence. The joint statement is available on the websites of CIC and FACE.

LIFE EuroLargeCarnivores project is organising the above conference 21-23 January 2020 in Heffterhof, Salzburg (Austria). The conference aims to foster the exchange of best practice of livestock protection in Europe. The EU Platform, in particular, the members WWF and ELO, are coorganising a half-day session focused on the use of EU funds to support coexistence with large carnivores.

Approach to dealing with problem situations involving large carnivores

The Swedish Wildlife Damage Centre (Viltskadecenter, VSC), part of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is a collaborative centre funded by the government. The VSC brings together researchers with decades-worth of experience of dealing with wildlife damage to carry out a range of research and consultancy activities. This combination of practical experience and multi-disciplinary research gathered at the VSC has proved to be crucial in bringing forward the ways of reacting to problematic incidents and developing and adapting approaches with experiences gained. While initially, aversive conditioning (shooting with rubber bullets and fire crackers) was the first reaction to a large carnivore approaching a human settlement, now a more nuanced approach is followed with a series of actions, assessing the situation and removing attractants as first step. If this does not solve the problem, a protocol of escalated actions is followed from averse conditioning to removal of the problem animal after a set period if no other solution is found. The certainty this gives to local people that the problem will be dealt with in a particular manner in a set time-frame has improved trust of the authorities and reduced the potential for animals to be removed when this is not necessary.

For more information see the description of the case study on the Platform website.

A report describing ten good practice case studies is also available.