Organiser: International Council for Game and WIldlife Conservation
Background
Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) is a critical issue impacting biodiversity, human safety, and livelihoods across Europe. The increasing interactions between humans and wildlife, especially large carnivores, require effective strategies for coexistence. The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) recognizes the issue of solving human-wildlife conflict as one of its Targets to be achieved by 2030. Target 4 of the GBF notes that Parties need to ensure urgent management actions to halt the human-induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimise human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.
Environmental wellbeing is also one of the key priorities for the EU and the large carnivore conservation and management has become a major controversy among stakeholders. The EU regards supporting the dialogue among all the concerned stakeholders as one of its high priorities. As a result in 2014, the EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores came together that represent different interest groups on the EU level who have agreed to a joint mission: “To promote ways and means to minimise, 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”.
Objectives
● Raise Awareness: Increase understanding of HWC, its causes, and impacts on both humans and wildlife in Europe.
● Promote Integrated HWC Mitigation: Highlight the importance of healthy ecosystems and carnivore management initiatives in managing human-wildlife conflict, and advocate for the active involvement of local communities and stakeholders in creating inclusive and sustainable solutions.
● Promote Sustainable Practices: Discuss the relevance of GBF Target 4 and works done on the indicator development to measure the Target implementation.
● Policy Integration: Discuss the need for the integration of GBF Target 4 into national and regional policies.
Subtopics of Discussion
● Ecosystem Functionality and Best Practices: Examining best practices for achieving conservation and coexistence through sustainable resource utilization. Presenting successful initiatives to manage and mitigate HWC.
● EU Large Carnivore platform: Showcase the EU Platform on Coexistence between people and large carnivores.
● Collaborative Approaches and Partnerships: Discussing the role of collaborative platforms like the Large Carnivore Platform in supporting HWC management.
Expected Outcomes
● Enhanced Understanding: Improve knowledge on the diverse perspectives and challenges related to HWC in Europe.
● Collaborative Opportunities: Identify opportunities for cross-regional partnerships and knowledge exchange.
● Actionable Recommendations: Develop actionable recommendations in both action and policy-based forms to promote sustainable wildlife management and HWC mitigation practices in Europe.
Agenda
17:00 - 17:10 Welcome words - CIC
International to EU context
Opening remarks / Keynote
17:10 - 17:15 IUCN HWCC - Alexandra Zimmerman, IUCN
- IUCN HWCC group
- Process of developing indicators
- How indicators will be used in the end
17:15 - 17:20 C2C approach - Sandra Martens, Advisor Human- Wildlife Coexistence, WWF NL
- C2C approach and implementation experiences so far
17:20 - 17:25 EU LC Platform - Jurgen Tack, ELO
- EU Platform collaboration (standard presentation)
17:25 - 17:30 EU Platforms - Christiane Röttger, EU Platform Secretariat, adelphi
- Development of the EU Platform toolkit
- Platforms on local to regional level
17:30 - 17:35 European transnational collaboration - Sabrina Dietz, FACE
- Role of hunters in the different levels of platform
- Example of hunters engagement in a transnational platform (Dinaric Balkan Pindos)
- Hunters’ role in addressing human-LC conflict and the impact Large Carnivores can have on hunting activities in Europe.
17:35 - 17:40 European national to local level collaboration - Pepijn T'Hooft, WWF
- Role of NGOs in improving coexistence
- Example of the Wolf Fencing team.
- Working from the local to the national level
- Collaboration with stakeholders in putting in place practical support
17:40 - 18:00 Questions to panel members
18:00 - 18:25 Questions from public
18:25 - 18:30 Event Closing words