Large carnivores: regions and cities demand reassessment of protection status

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​EU regions and cities point out that their greater involvement and active participation is necessary to find new ways for livestock, people and large carnivores to coexist sustainably and safely while enhancing biodiversity. The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) considers that the protection status of certain species should be periodically reassessed and that EU funding should fully cover measures to prevent damage or compensate damages.

The recommendationsdrafted by Csaba Borboly (RO/EPP), President of Harghita County Council, were adopted at the plenary session on 17 April. While pointing out that wolves, bears and other large carnivores can contribute positively to ecosystems and that their return to many areas of Europe is a significant success in conservation, local and regional leaders argue that there is a critical need to address the concerns on human life and safety in general, especially in relation to rural areas, their inhabitants and their farming.

Regions and cities consider that the protection status of certain species should be periodically reassessed, against objective criteria based on the Habitats Directive, taking account of the development of their populations. When challenges in coexistence with large carnivores arise, priority should be given to improvement of prevention measures, educational activities and to the flexibility measures already allowed by EU legislation, especially the effective use of derogations which should not be undermined by legal acts in Member States.

Regions and cities are calling the European Commission to assess how more targeted funding could be provided from EU funds to the protection of biodiversity and co-existence with large carnivores, if necessary by setting up tailored means of support to rural communities in the next multiannual EU budget. It should be obligatory to compensate any damages to livestock or to crops, fruits and vegetables, and EU funding should also cover the cost of preventive measures. Compensation mechanisms must be timely and accessible to all farmers without red tape.

The CoR supports the work of the EU large carnivore platformand the pilot project creating regional large carnivore platformsand suggests extending them with adequate EU support and guidance to promote sharing of knowledge and of best practices. Finally, it calls on the European Commission to develop an appropriate methodology enabling Member States to measure the conservation status of large carnivores with harmonised criteria and thus develop policies that are realistic and consistent with the objective of their conservation and coexistence with human activities, in particular with livestock farming.

Quotes:

Rapporteur Csaba Borboly (RO/EPP), President of Harghita County Council:

"No Member State, Romania or any other country can sweep away the bear problem. There should be a separate EU budget to cover the damages caused by large carnivores. At EU level, all Member States should contribute to the dedicated resources, even if there are no large predators, as this is a common EU value.

We advocate for multi-level governance and subsidiarity for effective large carnivore policy, urging greater involvement of local authorities to foster sustainable coexistence and biodiversity enhancement. Coexistence strategies should be location-specific, incorporating cultural values and environmental conditions, and designed in a way that allows the evaluation of the return on financial investment. Improved monitoring of mitigation measures is urgently required to promote effective, evidence-based policy."

Daniel Buda (RO/EPP), Vice-Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament:

"The protection status of wolves and bears must be periodically reevaluated according to the evolution of their populations. I welcome the change in the international status of wolves and bears from 'strictly protected' to 'protected', so that Member States have more flexibility.

Of course, at the same time we must advocate for balanced coexistence between humans, animals and large carnivores, especially in rural areas. Increasing the presence of large carnivores can have positive effects on the functioning and resilience of ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity and ecological processes, contributing, among other things, to the control of wild livestock; but let's not forget that everything must have a measure, and when people's lives begin to be endangered, then we must reevaluate our policies."

More information:

The European Commission has recently proposed to modifythe Bern Conventionto change the protection status of wolf from 'strictly protected' to 'protected'. This is a precondition for any similar change to its status at the EU level. The proposal corresponds largely to the position that the European Parliament expressed in its resolution of 24 November 2022.

Contact:

Lauri Ouvinen
Tel: +32 473536887
[email protected]