Brown Bear Conservation: coordinated actions for the Alpine and the Appennines range

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1 LIFE ARCTOS LIFE09 NAT/IT/ Brown Bear Conservation: coordinated actions for the Alpine and the Appennines range Cevo, October 2013 Regione Lombardia - Elisabetta Rossi: elisabetta_maria_rossi@regione.lombardia.it 02/12/2013 1

2 First italian brown bear conservation project at the national level ( ) Foto A. Cambone - R. Isotti National Park Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise WWF Italy Onlus Corpo Forestale dello Stato La Sapienza, University of Rome Regione Abruzzo Regione Lazio Regione Lombardia Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia Province of Trento (Trentino) Natural Park Adamello Brenta 02/12/ /12/2013 2

3 Project cofinanced by EU LIFE+ funding Total project cost : LIFE+ is a European Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+ Nature finances biodiversity and threatened species projects) EC financial cofinancing : (67,63% of total costs). Beneficiaries cofinancing: /12/ /12/2013 3

4 LIFE ARCTOS takes into account: Piano d Azione per la Tutela dell Orso Marsicano nelle regioni Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise Piano d Azione per la Conservazione dell Orso Bruno sulle Alpi Centro-Orientali 02/12/ /12/2013 4

5 And previous LIFE experience (LIFE Ursus) 9 founders Minimum Vital Population: Predicted in 40 years time The future for Brown Bear survival on the Alps now is still uncertain 02/12/ /12/2013 5

6 So LIFE ARCTOS: why? Brown bear in the mountains of Val Masino (spring 2012) on-site implementation of practices and management protocols which most effectively ensure the long term conservation of brown bear in Italy livestock husbandry practices innovative conflict management coordinated management among different administrative levels tools and protocols to assist and facilitate the expansion of the species (networking with other countries of the potential bear range) information and awareness of local communities 02/12/ /12/2013 6

7 So LIFE ARCTOS, Where? IN THE ALPS Areas of stable presence of bears: Province of Trento Expansion area: Lombardy Region Contact area with Slovenian population: Friuli Venezia Giulia APPENNINI The whole territory of marsican brown bear 02/12/ /12/2013 7

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9 What ARCTOS has done up till now Preparatory actions Assessment of livestock husbandry practices: what are the critical aspects and possible conflicts between farming and bear presence? What are the solutions? Assessment of the effects of management practices: have brown bear conservation decisions been effective? How can we be more effective? 02/12/ /12/2013 9

10 What ARCTOS has done up till now Preparatory actions Definition of a unique monitoring protocol for bear populations can we have one standard for monitoring? Guidelines for management of confident/problematic bears: a same vision of what a «problematic» bear is and same solutions ensure a better conservation strategy 02/12/ /12/

11 What ARCTOS is doing now Conservation actions Management protocols: when do we have to intervene? Establishment of monitoring teams and emergency teams: who, when and how do we have to monitor a bear presence? When and how an emergency procedure is decided? 02/12/ /12/

12 What ARCTOS is doing now Conservation actions Donation of electric fences to farmers: a possible solution to reduce the risk of attacks (especially for sheep) Innovative livestock husbandry practices and management practices Involvement of institutions: Forest Service, Provincial Police, Regional and National Parks Promotion of stakeholder involvement and sharing 02/12/ /12/

13 What ARCTOS is doing now Monitoring actions Assessment of bear population: now we are standardizing a method for monitoring Educational activities Environmental education for school students: involvement of students is a key factor to spread correct infos on bear conservation and ecology aspects 02/12/ /12/

14 What ARCTOS is doing now Communication activities Public presentations of the project: to ensure a widespread knowledge of the brown bear Media relation: we have informed journalists and are keeping contacs with local newspapers 02/12/ /12/

15 What ARCTOS has done up till now: monitoring 02/12/ /12/

16 What ARCTOS will do to the end of the project Regione Lombardia has developed a web GIS (GEORSO) Georso is a web based tool. Its purpose is to quickly and easily share information with institutions involved in bear conservation regarding bear presence. It allows a visualization of bear presence index in Lombardia. It is useful espiecially for areas like Regione Lombardia where bear presence is not continuous 02/12/ /12/

17 GEORSO: cartographic viewer cartografico The viewer allows visualization (and reading of synthetic informations) on bear sightings. 02/12/ /12/

18 GEORSO: data entry 4 different types of bear presence recordings (predation evidence, prints and findings, direct sighting, other..) 02/12/ /12/

19 GEORSO: Data on sightings Each data entry can be detailed with a series of informations. 02/12/ When bear presence has been confirmed From first data, not verified To Verified data (confirmation of bear presence)

20 Conclusions: the rapid sharing of homogeneous informations on bear presence has facilitated a coordinated and rapid response (damage refunding, informations to citizens and stakeholders, intensifying of monitoring, ) 02/12/ /12/

21 GEORSO: Possible future evolution 02/12/ /12/

22 What ARCTOS will do to the end of the project Assess Innovative livestock husbandry practices and management practices. Standardized monitoring Dissemination of best practices in areas of possible expansion Monitoring the effectiveness of the project actions. Networking with national and international projects and other countries 02/12/ /12/

23 For further information visit Contacts in Regione Lombardia: Elisabetta Rossi: Elena Tironi: 02/12/ /12/