EU Platform on Coexistence between People & Large Carnivores

As we have seen from recent events in parliament, the council and discussions at the Bern Convention Standing Committee, the coexistence of wolves with livestock breeding remains a contentious and highly politicised topic. The EU Platform members represent a range of interest groups and of course also have varying viewpoints on the precise management measures which should be permitted in order to support coexistence between humans and large carnivores. Nonetheless, our acceptance of each other’s view points and openness for discussing them, allows us to continue talking. As we have seen in the various recent initiatives, this is perhaps the one point that all can agree upon, that, in order to coexist, stakeholders must be involved in discussions around conservation and management decisions.

Platforms such as the EU Platform, provide a convenient format for such discussions. For that reason, we are very happy to launch, firstly in a test format, our toolkit, for supporting the establishment of similar local and regional discussion fora. This builds on the significant experiences of the platform members following the establishment of 6 pilot local to regional platforms across the EU. We are very happy to receive feedback and suggestions for improvements.

I would like to send you festive greetings for the last weeks of 2022 and a very good start to the new year!

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

The EU Platform, the regional platforms and the EUROLARGECARNIVORE LIFE project have worked together to exchange upon their extensive experience with regional dialogue platforms on large carnivores in different European countries and draw out lessons learned. This toolkit is a result of the exchange process. The Toolkit supports anyone interested in establishing national and regional/local platforms on large carnivores, providing guidance based on lessons learned and good practice. It is primarily aimed at national, regional and local authorities responsible for the management of large carnivores, but also at interested donor institutions, NGOs or local initiatives.
It addresses:
• what you need in place for managing effective dialogue platforms;
• relevant tools and methods for the process;
• how to communicate decisions and outcomes.

The pilot project establishing regional platforms nears its end. All platforms have completed their group meetings and decided on actions to carry out together.

In Vercors, France, the implementation of protection measures (in particular livestock guarding dogs) can sometimes be conflict-laden. In order to avoid the tension in the relations between concerned actors, the Regional Natural Park of Vercors (PNR-Vercors) worked together with the EU-financed regional platforms to facilitate a multi-actor working group on the "Protection measures against the wolf (including livestock guarding dogs) and other uses of the territory”. During a number of meetings, the platform participants have identified issues and managed to develop a common narrative. This and a press dossier were presented at a meeting in collaboration with the EU Platform in October. The platform has now decided on a range of other awareness raising actions to finance to promote the narrative and a better understanding of the work of livestock keepers in the region.

The cooperation within the framework of the dialogue platform on the subject of wolves in the Lüneburg Heath was concluded in June 2020. In the context of the platform, especially the topic of herd protection played an important role and some concrete project ideas have emerged. The final workshop focused on livestock protection measures, including examples from inside and outside the region. It included presentations of the state of knowledge on livestock protection, ongoing research on the relationship between wolf and horse and a panel discussion.

The last regional platform joint workshop is planned 19 January in Karlstad, Sweden. The main purpose of this meeting is to bring the local, regional and national level actors (who have been engaged in the different level platforms) together with EU actors and discuss how the multi-level platform process functioned and the potential for continuing it in the future.

The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biodiversity was held from 7 – 19 December 2022, in Montreal and reached a final deal early on 19 December. The EU and its Member States were amongst those calling for urgent and transformative action by all to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

Targets finally agreed include restoring 30% degraded ecosystems globally (on land and sea) and conserving and managing 30% of land, water and sea area by 2030. Additionally, the extinction of all known species should be stopped by 2050. The European Commission greeted the agreed deal as historic, providing a solid framework with clear, measurable goals and targets, with complete monitoring, reporting, and review arrangements.

On the 24 November, the parliament voted in favour of the above resolution proposed originally by the Agri committee. The resolution, which focuses on the impacts of wolves on sheep and other extensive livestock systems, makes a number of requests to the Commission and Member States to measure and reduce these impacts. Requests include increasing support for protection measures as well as awareness raising about their availability; collecting and making available data on large carnivores and livestock impacts; as well as suggestions to evaluate the protection status of the wolf as well as clarifying the use of derogations. The motion also highlighted the importance of engaging stakeholders in discussions on large carnivore management and promoting exchange between different interest groups.

Several platform members released positions before and after the vote, including WWF in coalition with other NGOs, FACE, CIC and WWF.

The Convention Standing Committee meeting took place 28 November - 2 December in Strasbourg and online. Among the agenda items, was a proposal for an amendment: Downlisting of the wolf (Canis lupus) from Appendix II to Appendix III of the convention. The amendment was rejected by the signatories with the EU voting as a block against it. Prior to the decision, the convention requested an Assessment of the conservation status of the Wolf (Canis lupus) in Europe. The report by LCIE requested by the Bern Convention presents the most up-to-date (2022) information on wolf numbers, trends and key threats and conservation measures at country, population and pan-European level.

All 27 CAP Strategic Plans have been approved by the European Commission and will come into force, providing support to farmers to meet EU priorities, at the start of 2023. The plans are the new implementation instrument to help draw together the different streams of CAP financing to meet strategic objectives across Europe. Amongst other things, CAP funding can be used to protect and restore biodiversity and reduce human-wildlife conflicts. A number of EU member states, finance measures to protect livestock against large carnivores (for example electric fencing, livestock guarding dogs or shepherding) through the CAP. More information on the use of CAP funds for this purpose is available on the EU Platform website.

In Baden-Württemberg, the golden jackal is established with the first confirmed litter last year in the Schwarzwald-Baar district and a second litter from the same pair in 2022. At least four cubs were captured by a photo trap. In addition, three pups were born this year in the Uelzen district of Lower Saxony. The golden jackal has been returning to Germany slowly over more than a decade. The first animal was observed in Brandenburg in 1997. By 2020, there were already 25 records from almost all federal states. More information here.

Footage from a wildlife camera in the Drents-Friese Wold shows three healthy young wolves. They are the first cubs in the northern Netherlands since the wolf was exterminated in the country over 150 years ago. The footage is from August this year, when the cubs were three months old.

DNA analysis has proved that the extremely tragic death of a British tourist in Greece was a rare attack caused by dogs not wolves (as had been widely reported in the press). The evidence presented in the peer reviewed journal Nature Conservation was accepted by the court who gave a verdict in September 2022. The role of the media in fueling speculation that wolves were involved has also been analysed in Environmental Research Letters.

A new and updated Wildlife Comeback Report commissioned by Rewilding Europe was published on 27 September. It highlights species that have made a comeback in Europe over the last 40 to 50 years, including a special highlight on the particular strong comeback of grey wolves and brown bears. The report was compiled by experts from the Zoological Society of London, BirdLife International and the European Bird Census Council.

A number of scientific papers recently have examined different ways to analyse the complex relationship between wolf distribution and population size and livestock depredation. Khorozyan and Heurich (2022) found that in Germany, depredation went up with spread of the wolf to new areas and number of livestock but did not increase with increasing number of wolves in a colonised area. Kiffner et al (2022) analyse long-term patterns of livestock depredation by wolves in Brandenburg to draw out temporal patterns as well as differences with time in the type and number of livestock attacked. Mayer et al (2022) examined depredation incidents across the German-Danish border areas finding that attacks on sheep were most common where there was a lack of wild prey and that protection measures could reduce attacks but were relatively expensive as a reaction to rare, dispersing individuals. Gervasi et al (2021) found that the number of sheep depredated increased with wolf distribution but was lower in areas where large carnivore presence was continuous. Singer et al (in preprint) analysed depredation incidents measured to the individual case level over three years and found that while incidents went up with the return of the wolf, they tended to reduce with time in following years.

The initiative to establish a large carnivore platform in the region is being continued supported by a second German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) project.

The platform consists of representatives from all regional governments who come together to discuss cross border large carnivore management and compare approaches. A background report: Management, Monitoring, Threats and Conflicts - Background Report was written to give an overview of the status quo in the Dinaric countries. Building on the report information, the first meeting of the Platform was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia 16-17 November and the second meeting took place 15-17 June in Sarajevo. The members discussed collaboration along two workstreams: firstly exchange on practical large carnivore measures such as management planning and monitoring. Secondly how to formalise their collaboration through an international agreement. The work will be continued in two further platform meetings in 2023 as well as series of surrounding meetings, thematic exchanges and capacity building measures.

More information at dinaric.carnivores@adelphi.de.

The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation has recently updated their data on wolf occurrences in Germany, including a map of population distribution, for the period of 2021/2022. A total of 161 wolf packs, 43 wolf pairs and 21 sedentary lone wolves was confirmed by the federal states. As in previous years, wolf occurrence is concentrated in the area from Saxony in a north-westerly direction via Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to Lower Saxony.

The annually published occurrence map is based on the information and evidence from the past monitoring year 2021/2022, which covers the period from 1 May of the previous year to 30 April of the current year. More information can be found here.

The DBBW also collaborates with the Benelux Wolf management group to produce a joint map. The map of wolf distribution in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany is a result of a cooperation of the authorities and/or implementing organisations responsible for wolf monitoring in these countries. The data are updated once a year in September. Then, the data until 1 May of that year are added. Data from previous years can also be added.

The range of large carnivore related LIFE projects have been active in recent months. The LIFE BOREALWOLF seminar with the theme ‘From Conflicts to Coexistence – New Tools for Human-Wildlife Conflict’ took place between 15 and 16 November 2022 in Espoo, Finland. The workshop aimed to increase the awareness of case studies and experiences gained during the project and to further facilitate national level discussion on how LIFE BOREALWOLF can provide tools for the conflict management. The LIFE WOLFALPS EU Conference 2022 took place 5 and 6 December and presented the complexity of managing the impact of the wolf on human activities in various Alpine countries and elsewhere in Europe.

The EU Platform website provides a library including a range of publications from different countries.

The Triesdorf Livestock Protection Days on 21 to 23 November (online) focused, inter alia, on livestock protection in cattle and horse husbandry. The EU Platform Secretariat presented information on the current and potential future use of CAP funds for livestock protection. Presentations and a recording will be made available on the website shortly.

The conference with the theme "Sharing Landscapes”, organized by Wageningen University and Colorado State University, took place from October 19 to 21, 2022 in Wageningen, The Netherlands. Katrina Marsden and Valeria Salvatori presented information on regional and the EU Platform, their interactions and the platform toolkit. Presentations can be viewed online.

Lesson’s learned from the regional platforms project and how these could potentially be further applied in protected areas, were also presented at a webinar organised by EUROPARC FEDERATION 3 November 2022. The presentations are available to watch online.

This conference which was originally planned for April 2020 will now take place from 30 March – 1 April 2023 in Oxford, UK. It aims at enhancing dialogue and collaboration on human-wildlife conflicts across sectors and disciplines as a global priority in biodiversity conservation, and at promoting ways to reduce and manage these conflicts. Members of the EU Platform and the Secretariat will participate in the exchange and present the work carried out during the previous year addressing regional stakeholder platforms, their members’ interactions and expectations in the context of promoting coexistence.

The conference will take place in Colorado 31 May- 3 June. The conference and training programme addresses human wildlife conflicts from a number of different angles and from a multi-disciplinary approach.

Mercantour and Canjuers plateau are two of the areas with the highest wolf presence in the French Alps. Simultaneously, pastoralism is important in the region. Although protection measures have been in place since the return of the wolf to France, 46% of total damages caused by the wolf in 2014 and 72% in 2015 were concentrated in Mercantour and Canjuers.

The aim of project CanOvis is to study the nocturnal wolf-herd-livestock guarding dog (LGD) behaviour in the Mercantour and Canjuers to understand and better address depredation issues through protection measures. Since 2013, the project has studied the predatory behaviour of wolves and their response to protection measures, the potential of protecting the particular flock using LGDs and vulnerability factors at the level of the pastoral unit. The exterior factors influencing the efficiency of LGDs are examined so as to issue recommendations on how to improve protection against the wolf.

In 2019, the project carried out 530 observations of wolves, observed and analysed 65 attacks, and monitored 174 interactions between LGDs and wolves as well as other interactions with wild fauna (boars, chamois, hares, etc).The results of the CanOvis study are now used for other projects in the Northern Alps (Chamonix) and le Jura mountains, mainly to monitor wolves and protect cow herds. More information can be found here.

The Frequently Asked Questions section of the EU Platform website provides a list of common questions which come up regarding the presence of large carnivores in Europe. Here we select one to present in the newsletter, but further questions and answers can be viewed online.

Common Misconception: Large carnivores are completely incompatible with pastoral farming

In the past, in the majority of European countries, traditional pastoral farming was based on the system of seasonal transhumance where shepherds remained with the flock and moved with them according to the season. These systems developed with the presence of large carnivores, and human presence and dogs were used to reduce losses. They included a certain tolerance for losses which generally remained small when protection measures were in place. This shows that traditionally, pastoral systems were viable despite the presence of carnivores.

These systems continue in certain countries but in many have been replaced by more intensive livestock or cultivated systems, in which animals are kept enclosed and therefore protected from large carnivores. The systems which present the greatest challenges, however, are extensive systems where protection measures have been abandoned due to the lack of need in the half century where large carnivores were not present. At the same time, these systems are valuable as they support certain habitats important for many rare European species. The return of large carnivores comes at the same time as many other pressures on extensive pastoral systems, which suffer from lack of competitiveness, infrastructure and investment in comparison with more intensive systems. For this reason, the additional psychological and economic stress caused by the return of the wolf, in particular, adds to already existing pressures on livestock breeders.

In many European countries, measures to protect livestock have been developed and applied successfully (see EU Platform case studies, on the provision of practical support). Measures are not necessarily easily transferable and no single measure can be 100% successful, but adequate technical solutions (often used in combination) can significantly reduce livestock losses to predators. The relevant authorities and stakeholders need to carefully design the prevention measures suitable to the different situations, to properly implement them (including maintenance), to monitor their effectiveness and to apply any necessary adjustment. Training, information, follow-up and technical assistance to the concerned operators are key elements and should be allocated adequate financial support.