Project
Improving Coexistence with Large Carnivores in Europe
Challenge
The status of large carnivores in Europe varies widely depending on region and species. As diverse as the landscapes are that wolf, lynx, bear and wolverine return to, as divergent are the reactions of local communities living there.
In the last decade only, an increase of over 25% of wolf range has been reported in Europe. With the return and range expansion of large carnivores come different emotions among the people living in the neighborhood of the animals, ranging from fear to elation.
The presence of large carnivores often invokes polarized discussions, even expanding the polarization to other underlying social challenges, and quickly escalating to highly political exchanges. An objective space for fact-grounded discussions is as needed, as the implementation of cost-effective and long-term management solutions.
Vision
The project aimed at providing a platform to gather and share knowledge on human-large carnivore coexistence among various stakeholders across the European Union. The diverse approaches to managing social, economic and ecological challenges have been made widely available, as well as good practice in transboundary cooperation. Topics like monitoring, human-wildlife conflict mitigation and prevention, the discussion of fears and safety concerns, herding practices, but also poaching, economic opportunities and investment requirements were the focus of this LIFE project.
Large Carnivores in Europe
The population trends of bear, wolf, lynx and wolverine are as varied as the reasons for their recovery. A favorable conservation status (defined by the EU Habitats Directive) and associated conservation measures contribute to this development, however, social phenomena such as urbanisation and associated changes in land use practices are potentially having an even greater impact.
🐺 ~ 17.000 wolves
🐻 ~ 17.000 brown bears
🐱 ~ 8.000 Eurasian lynx
🐱 ~ 500 Iberian lynx
🦨 ~ 1.250 wolverines
For up to date numbers of large carnivore distribution in Europe please refer to: https://www.lcie.org/
Project Information
💰 Budget: 6 M € (3.6 M of which EU)
⏳Project length: 2017 – 2022
Project Implementation & Participation
WWF Germany was coordinating the project that includes 16 partners. The majority of the partners were international WWF offices together with the Forest Research Institute of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Eliante in Italy, and the Elmauer Institute.
Beneficiaries
| Name & Website | Type | |
|---|---|---|
| World Wide Fund For Nature Germany | Coordinator | |
| World Wide Fund for Nature Austria | Participant | |
| World Wide Fund for Nature Switzerland | Participant | |
| World Wide Fund for Nature Finland | Participant | |
| FONDS MONDIAL POUR LA NATURE FRANCE | Participant | |
| eimc2 GmbH elmauer institute managing consensus 2, Germany | Participant | |
| Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt Baden-Württemberg, GER | Participant | |
| WWF Világ Természeti Alap Magyarország Alapítvány, Hungary | Participant | |
| WWF Mediterranean Foundation, Italy | Participant | |
| Società Cooperativa Sociale Eliante Onlus, Italy | Participant | |
| World Wide Fund for Nature Poland – Fundacja WWF Polska, | Participant | |
| WWF Programul Dunare Carpati Romania, | Participant | |
| ASOCIACION PARA LA DEFENSA DE LA NATURALEZA, Spain | Participant | |
| World Wide Fund for Nature Adria, Croatia | Participant | |
| STIFTELSE WWF VERDENS NATURFOND, Norway | Participant | |
| WWF Central European Eastern Programme, Austria | Participant |
Within the project, we worked together with a variety of stakeholders and exchanged knowledge beyond borders.
