The Dinaric-Balkan-Pindos Large Carnivore Initiative

Large carnivores provoke strong emotions. On the one hand, they represent nature and the wildness that many lack in their day to day lives. On the other hand, they come into conflict with human needs (e.g. by depredating livestock) and bears can even occasionally threaten human safety. Because of this, large carnivores became almost extinct in Western Europe and are just now making a comeback.

In the Dinaric-Balkan-Pindos region, populations survived and people have many generations experience living with large carnivores. Nonetheless, conflicts exist and there is a need to discuss management with those impacted (e.g. hunters, farmers, conservationists and tourism operators). While some large carnivore populations are doing well in the region, others are highly threatened and additional efforts are needed to maintain populations.

Large carnivores do not respect national borders. Wolves for example, range over vast areas and are not only confined to parks or mountain ranges. Given the extensive ranges of these species, transnational coordination for their management is needed to enable a long-term basis for their conservation.

Large-scale cross-border collaboration remains none-the-less challenging in the Dinaric-Balkan-Pindos region which includes a range of EU and non-EU countries, different cultures, languages, scripts and religions and which over time has seen more than its fair share of conflict.

A final challenge is the lack of capacity for biodiversity management which tends to receive lower attention than more immediate political and social challenges. Capacity building and knowledge exchange is therefore important.