Nature conservation instead of climate protection: the green roots of the right
stern.de, 21st June 2024 (in German)
News publ. 02. Jun 2017
Representatives from landowning, herding, hunting, research and conservation organisations met on 1 June 2017 in Brussels in order to review their work from the previous year and discuss future plans
During the annual plenary meeting, the main items on the agenda were a discussion of good practice examples for coexistence with large carnivores based on activities carried out in a range of countries. The EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores plans to publish a report on the case studies later in 2017. The Platform also agreed a statement on recent developments in large carnivore management in Romania (see below). Finally, a number of regional, national and local large carnivore Platforms were invited to the meeting to explore how to link their work with that of the EU Platform.
Humberto Delgado-Rosa, Director for Natural Capital, DG Environment, who co-chairs the meeting for the European Commission, said: “A focus of our new action plan is building political ownership by working together with stakeholders and member states. It’s been interesting to discuss how the EU Platform and national and regional Platforms can work together and share information. There is more potential to establish similar groupings in the Member States where large carnivores are already present or are returning”.
Thierry de l'Escaille, Secretary General of the European Landowners Organization and co-chair of the Platform said: “The Platform members all have their own priorities for coexistence and their own worries and concerns about large carnivores. The value of the Platform is that we can agree on the process of making decisions, as we have seen with the statement on Romanian large carnivore management. This must involve all affected stakeholders and ensure mutual information exchange and a respectful, good-humoured approach to discussions between stakeholders with initially opposing views.”
Following agreement of the statement, a Platform workshop will take place in Bucharest, Romania next week organised by the European Federation of Associations for Hunting & Conservation (FACE), their national member, the General Association of Romanian Hunters & Anglers (AGVPS), WWF International and WWF Romania to discuss large carnivore conservation and management in Romania.
The EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores is a grouping of organisations representing different interests groups which have agreed a joint mission. The Platform was established to “promote ways to minimize and find solutions to conflicts between people and large carnivores”