Large Carnivores and People: Finding Balance in a Changing Landscape

Wolf

ImageJohn Linnell

This resurgence is regarded by many as a remarkable conservation success, signalling the recovery of ecosystems and biodiversity. However, others have highlighted that it also brings renewed challenges for rural communities, particularly farmers and reindeer herders, who must navigate the realities of coexistence with these predators.

Umeå University researchers Prof. Camilla Sandström and Dr. Auvikki de Boon are contributing to a major EU-funded project titled Co-creating Coexistence: Advancing policies, practices, and stakeholder engagement for integrating wildlife and livestock into sustainable multi-functional landscapes in Europe (CoCo) that aims to combine insights from science, traditional practices, and local knowledge in order to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. The project brings together 18 institutions across 12 countries to develop coexistence models that are both practical and inclusive. The goal is to promote policies and practices that both benefit pastoralism and protect biodiversity in a long-term sustainable way.

Lambs on pasture

ImageT.Rooke

This month, fresh insights from the CoCo project were presented by Project Lead Professor John Linnell of Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences at the Sustainable management of populations of protected animals that cause losses in agriculture conference organised by the Polish Presidency of the European Council. Key issues highlighted included:

• Depredation Data: Inconsistent and fragmented, making it hard to develop effective strategies 
• Localised Impacts: Small on a broad scale but devastating for specific farmers 
• Need for tailored approaches: Approaches need to be adapted to local contexts and address broader socio-ecological challenges
• Protection Measures: Tools like electric fencing work but face cultural and financial barriers 
• Lethal Management: A controversial tool—not a magic bullet but useful in some contexts 
• Policy integration: Better coordination of policies in different sectors is key

As part of the project, Prof. Sandström and Dr. de Boon contribute to addressing some of these issues by mapping the current pastoralism-wildlife policy landscape across Europe. With this analysis, they aim to identify opportunities for cross-country learning to mitigate conflicts and to make policy-relevant recommendations at the end of the project both at the EU level, but also for the individual countries. To read more about this process that is currently ongoing, visit: https://www.umu.se/en/feature/a-day-at-work---eu-research-project-coco/