A transnational exchange platform for the management of large carnivores in the Dinaric region

The Dinaric region in the Western Balkans is one of the most biologically diverse regions in Europe. It is also home to the three large carnivores bear, wolf and lynx, divided between EU and non-EU member states. Given the extensive ranges of these species, transnational coordination for their management is desirable to enable a long-term basis for their conservation. To date, few transboundary initiatives on the project topic exist between the governments concerned.

The Dinaric Platform initiative established an international platform for the management of large carnivores with representations from eight countries in the Dinaric region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia with the involvement of Greece and Bulgaria. Over the course of several platform meetings, including plenary Meetings in Ljubljana and Sarajevo, the national administrations worked together with other relevant stakeholders from agriculture, science, hunting and nature conservation on jointly developing guiding principles for future cooperation. The platform secretariat ensured impartial steering of the project activities. At the start of the project, adelphi and Carnivora Magna prepared the background report Large Carnivores in the Dinarides: Management, Monitoring, Threats and Conflicts assessing the current status of large carnivores in the region. It gives a basis for further planned meetings and workshops which will be continued with a follow up project. The Secretariat also investigated and evaluated different financial and legal models for the long-term continuation of the Dinaric Platform on Large Carnivores.