Environment: Commission launches new platform to help resolve social conflicts over large carnivores
10 Jun 2014 10:50 AM
Europe's brown bear, wolf, wolverine, lynx –
at least one of these species can now be found in 21 EU Member States. After a
lengthy period of decline their numbers are growing once more, but coexistence
with man can be problematic. In an effort to solve the social and economic
problems that sometimes result from this new expansion, the European Commission
has launched a platform where farmers, conservationists, hunters, landowners
and scientists can exchange ideas and best practices on sharing the same land
with large carnivores.
The
EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores will support
constructive dialogue between key stakeholder organisations at the European
level. Launching the platform, EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik
said: "We need to treat our natural neighbours with respect –
but we also need to heed the concerns of those whose lives are genuinely
affected by their close proximity. My warm congratulations to the organisations
that have worked together to set up this important platform, which represents a
major step forward in efforts to address the issue of peaceful
coexistence."
The
European Union is home to five species of large carnivores. All suffered
dramatic declines in numbers and distribution as a consequence of human
activity, but increasing protection and public awareness about their vital role
in healthy ecosystems have caused many populations to stabilize or increase,
and to return to areas from which they had been absent for decades or even
centuries.
While this recovery is seen by some as a great
conservation success, it has not been without its opponents. The issue involves
a diversity of stakeholders such as hunters, foresters, livestock producers,
reindeer herders, landowners, rural communities, conservation organizations and
the wider public. These groups are influenced by and perceive large carnivores
in different ways, and in some cases these differences can be a source of
conflict. The platform will facilitate exchanges of knowledge and promote ways
and means to minimize, and wherever possible, find equitable solutions to these
conflicts.
The
platform launched yesterday follows a number of efforts to understand the
conflicts between stakeholders over large carnivores, the results of which were
set out in workshops conclusions and in
a report.
Next steps
The
Platform will hold its first working session immediately following the
official launch yesterday, on 10 June. It will adopt terms of reference and a
work plan. The Platform will hold one annual meeting and organize additional
workshops on selected topics. It will be supported by a web-based resource
centre that will serve as the main tool to disseminate information on the
activities of the platform, identify good practices in the form of documents or
a manual, act as a gateway to the portals of the member organisations, and host
media resources such as press kits for journalists.
Background
Although the overall picture for biodiversity in the EU
is far from good – up to 25 percent of species are now at risk of
extinction, largely due to the disappearance of their habitats - some species
groups are doing relatively well in some regions. Large carnivores (brown
bear Ursus arctos, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx,
wolfCanis lupus and wolverine Gulo gulo) are among
the species that are generally holding their own, and even expanding, across
large parts of their former ranges in Europe, often as a result of natural
processes. The Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus, however, remains
seriously threatened.
Two
directives, the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, together form
the cornerstone of the EU's nature conservation
policy, the Natura 2000 network of protected sites and the strict
system of species protection. The Habitats Directive protects over 1000 animals
and plant species and over 200 habitat types such as special types of forests,
meadows and wetlands of European importance.
The
eight stakeholder associations signing the platform agreement are: CIC –
The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation; COPA-COGECA
– European Farmers and European Agri-cooperatives; ELO - European
Landowners’ Organization; EUROPARC Federation; FACE – The European
Federation of Associations for Hunting & Conservation; Joint representative
of Finnish and Swedish reindeer herders; IUCN – The International Union
for Conservation of Nature, European Union Representative Office; and WWF
– World Wide Fund for Nature, European Policy Office.
For more information:
Illustrations can be downloaded at
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/carnivores/me
dia.htm
Visit the large carnivore website of DG Environment athttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/carnivores/in
dex_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/index_en.htm
The
signing ceremony and moderated panel discussion is streamed (https://new.livestream.com/corlive1/events/2977474/embed) on the
internet (also seehttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/carnivores/in
dex_en.htm)
Contacts :
For
the press:
Joe
Hennon (+32 2 295 35 93)
Andreja
Skerl (+32 2 295 14 45)
For
the public: Europe Direct by
phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by email