The Ministerial Environmental Conference on ˝Large Carnivore Management˝

At the Ministerial Environmental Conference on “Large Carnivore Management”, which took place in Bucharest, at the Palace of Parliament between 06th and 07th of June 2019, the representatives of the EU i member states have discussed the challenges that all the countries face and also the solutions that can be found for a better management of the large carnivores.

This meeting has been attended by representatives of the: Ministry of the Environment, Environmental National Guard, European Commission, European Environmental Bureau and also by representatives of associations and profile organizations from the country and also from abroad.

The Agenda started with a presentation from the European Commission regarding the support that the European Union offers to the Member States which are dealing with problems concerning the large carnivores that exist on their territory, especially the brown bear and the wolf. In the first session there were debates on the measures that we need to take to protect and conservate the species of large carnivores that exist on the territory of the Carpathic chain where the brown bear, the wolf and the lynx exist.

The working session continued with the presentation of the Life for Bear project, which focuses on the complex management of the conflicts between bears and humans and on testing new methods and the improvement of those which were implemented before. The results will lead to finding the best means to reduce the negative impact of urban development on the conservation of the bear population. The project is implemented by the National Institute of Research and Development in Forestry „Marin Drăcea” from Braşov.

“Lately, the subject of biodiversity has been on the public and politic agenda, both in Europe and globally. It is a pleasing fact that marks an increase of the biodiversity awareness and I hope that this fact will lead to enhanced measures of conservation and restoration of biodiversity, including measures of reintroduction or repopulation with species in areas where they disappeared or where they are in a critical condition and, why not, I am referring also to the repopulation with large carnivores.”, the State Secretary from the Ministry of Environment, Eugen Constantin Uricec has declared.

The last day of the reunion focused on the challenge of the coexistence between European people and large carnivores, because of the fact that they can sometimes be found near human settlements where they are causing fear and losses of the domestic animals. Harghita and nearby counties represent a particular situation where the number of large carnivores exceed the national average.