Romania: Hunters and environmental NGOs sign a joint statement

A government decision on large carnivore hunting left hunters and nature protection organisations in an impasse. The EU Large Carnivore Platform organised a workshop in Bucharest in which the current problems were addressed through a facilitated discussion.

Romania’s forested landscapes are home to Europe’s largest large carnivores populations (excluding Russia). In recent years, large carnivore management in Romania permitted hunting large carnivores including the brown bear and the grey wolf based on quotas issued by the Government. On 4th October 2016, Romania’s then Minister of Environment and Forests, Cristiana Pașca Palmer announced a decision to issue no quota for brown bears, grey wolves, lynx, and wildcats in 2017, citing concerns about the monitoring and data collection methods related to the different large carnivore populations in Romania. Views on the justification of this decision are divided between stakeholders engaged with large carnivore management.

New joint approach for working on monitoring and management decisions on large carnivores

In June the EU Large Carnivore Platform brought together different actors involved with large carnivore management in a workshop to contribute to resolving current tensions between stakeholders. At the workshop: Coexistence between people and large carnivores: Sharing good practice in monitoring and communication, the participants discussed how they can improve management in the future. At the end of two days of information gathering and facilitated discussion, the workshop participants agreed a statement on recent developments in large carnivore management in Romania. In this, they laid out a new joint approach for working on monitoring and management decisions on large carnivores, including the role of hunters. All parties regard this as a significant step forward after a long period in which debate was extremely polarised and carried out largely through the media.

The workshop was organised by the EU Platform members WWF European Policy Office and the European Federation of Associations for Hunting & Conservation (FACE) and their national members General Association of Romanian Hunters & Anglers (AGVPS) and WWF Romania with the support of the Platform Secretariat. adelphi and its partner Callisto provides the Secretariat and was responsible for assisting the parties with the agenda, background information, organisation and facilitation.

More information on the workshop and the Platform’s other activities can be found on the website.