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Environment

The EU Platform on Coexistence between people and large carnivores

The EU Platform brings together a range of stakeholders to effectively address conflicts related to large carnivore conservation and management.

Bear with cub in high grass
© Marko Matesic
EU Platform

The EU Platform

Large carnivore conservation and management can cause controversy between stakeholders. It is therefore important to support dialogue among all the concerned stakeholders. In 2014, the EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores came together. The Platform represents different interest groups on the EU level who have agreed a joint mission:

To promote ways and means to minimize, and wherever possible find solutions to, conflicts between human interests and the presence of large carnivore species, by exchanging knowledge and by working together in an open-ended, constructive and mutually respectful way

EU Platform on Coexistence between people and large carnivores

The EU Platform on Coexistence between people and large carnivore agreement

Platform members

The platform members are European level representatives of stakeholders involved in large carnivore management.

  • European Landowners' Organization logo in green letters with green leaf-like motif.

    ELO - European Landowners’ Organization

  • Blue and white plaque depicting deers.

    Joint representatives of Finnish and Swedish Reindeer Herders

  • Circular logo depicting archer and deer.

    FACE - The European Federation for Hunting and Conservation

  • Circular logo depicting deer head

    CIC - The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation

  • IUCN circular logo in various shades of blue.

    IUCN European Representative Office and their SSC specialist Group LCIE – the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe

  • Black and white WWF logo depicting panda.

    WWF - Worldwide Fund for Nature, European Policy Office

  • EUROPARC FEDERATION logo depicting the globe inside a sphere.

    EUROPARC Federation

Regional and local platforms

Since 2018, an EU-parliament funded pilot project helped establishing a number of regional and local stakeholders’ platforms , following the same model as the EU Platform. The links between the platforms are described in the following video:

 

 

Toolkit

The EU Platform, the regional platforms and the EUROLARGECARNIVORE project have worked together to gather their experiences concerning regional dialogue platforms. This exchange resulted in a toolkit supporting anyone interested in establishing national and regional/local platforms on large carnivores, providing guidance based on lessons learned and good practice: “Toolkit: Supporting establishment of regional/ local platforms on large carnivores”.

 

 

In-depth information

  • Wolf looking into the distance
    Funding for Coexistence

    There are several EU funding instruments that can be used to receive financial aid for the protection of livestock and crops from large carnivores. Their mechanisms, with a special focus on the use of the CAP to fund coexistence measures are described here 

  • Bear sitting in the forest
    Best practice

    Many successful projects that foster coexistence with large carnivores are already being implemented throughout Europe. Explore those best practice examples here

  • Lynx walking near felled tree in forest.
    Management across the EU

    Large carnivore management as well as data collection on large carnivore depredation incidents differ from country to country. An overview of what data analysis is telling us can be found here

Useful resources