A two-day pan-European conference on population level management plans for large carnivores opens today, aimed at endorsing the guidelines on population level management plans for large carnivores. Over 140 experts from 27 countries and several international NGOs are taking part in the conference, which will be opened by the Slovenian Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Janez Podobnik.
One of the major challenges in the implementation of European legislation in the field of nature conservation (the Habitats Directive) is the management of large carnivores, especially after the enlargement of the European Union, on account of the increase in the number of Member States hosting larger populations of carnivores. In this connection, the European Commission is handling the drafting of guidelines on developing plans for managing the population levels of large carnivores. At the final conference in Slovenia, the guidelines will be presented in their final version after discussions held at national level. Management practices in several EU and accession countries and international ongoing activities will also be presented.
The event will be organised by the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning in cooperation with the European Commission, the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE), the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, and the Slovenian Forest Service.
The conference is accompanied by an exhibition on large carnivores, prepared by the LCIE.
