Romanian carnivores at a crossroads

Popescu, Viorel D.; Pop, Mihai I.; Chiriac, Silviu; Rozyłowicz, Laurenţiu

doi:10.1126/science.aax6742

Cited by 15 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Previously listed as a game species, its hunting was restricted when Romania joined the EU in 2007 [59]. Since then, derogations have been used to control the bear population, and in 2016, bear hunting was banned under pressure from environmental associations that questioned the reliability of the population estimates used to set yearly quotas [60]. Bears in Harghita often approach human settlements to feed on domestic animals, crops, and food waste, resulting in accidents with humans.…”

Section: County Of Harghita (Romania)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Large Carnivores the Real Issue? Solutions for Improving Conflict Management through Stakeholder Participation

Salvatori¹,

Blanco²,

Carbonell

et al. 2021

Sustainability

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Social conflicts around large carnivores are increasing in Europe, often associated to the species expansion into human-modified and agricultural landscapes. Large carnivores can be seen as an added value by some but as a source of difficulties by others, depending on different values, attitudes, livelihoods, and everyday activities. Therefore, the effective involvement of the different interest groups is important to identify and shape tailored solutions that can potentially be implemented, complementing top-down approaches that might, on their own, result in lack of implementation and buy-in. To improve dialogue in conflictual situations, as part of a European project promoted by the European Parliament, we assessed the practical implementation of participatory processes in three sample areas in Europe where wolves and bears have recently been increasingly impacting human activities. Our results demonstrate that collaboration among different and generally contrasting groups is possible. Even in situations where large-carnivore impacts were seen as unsatisfactorily managed for many years, people were still willing and eager to be involved in alternative discussion processes hoping this would lead to concrete solutions. An important and common highlight among the three study areas was that all the management interventions agreed upon shared the general scope of improving the conditions of the groups most impacted by large carnivores. The process showed the importance of building trust and supporting dialogue for knowledge co-production and mitigation of conflicts between stakeholders and that controversial environmental issues have the potential to trigger a meaningful dialogue about broader societal issues. The direct involvement and support of competent authorities, as well as the upscaling of this process at larger administrative and social scales, remain important challenges.

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Section: County Of Harghita (Romania)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Large Carnivores the Real Issue? Solutions for Improving Conflict Management through Stakeholder Participation

Salvatori¹,

Blanco²,

Carbonell

et al. 2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Harghita hosts all three large carnivores (bear, Eurasian lynx and wolf) but the most abundant, and from the perspective of human-large carnivore coexistence the most relevant, is the bear, which was managed as a game species until the country joined the EU in 2007 (Enescu and Hȃlȃlişan, 2017). Since then, derogations have been used to control the population and in 2016 a ban was imposed on bear hunting following pressures from environmental associations questioning the reliability of population estimates used to set yearly quotas (Popescu et al, 2019). Bears come close to human settlements and feed on human-related feed-sources, often resulting in accidents with humans.…”

Section: County Of Harghita (Romania)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying Participatory Processes to Address Conflicts Over the Conservation of Large Carnivores: Understanding Conditions for Successful Management

Salvatori¹,

Balian

Blanco³

et al. 2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…However, very seldom efforts are made to understand the complex causes of this phenomenon, unusual in the past and which seems to drive these species towards a crossroads. In this context, in June 2019, Popescu et al wrote a letter on carnivores in Romania and recent legislation changes (Popescu et al 2019), suggesting that such changes would improve the coexistence with carnivores and secure their perpetuation in the future. These changes refer to the decision of the Ministry of Environment not to issue for 2016 a derogation order for bears, wolves and wild cats (despite the existing conflicts with humans), a decision considered by the authors to shake "the decades-old wildlife management system of regulated hunting" and to the decision of the same ministry to issue such an order in 2017 (interpreted by the authors of the letter as being "a new management system").…”

Section: Concluziimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…În acest context, în luna iunie a anului 2019, Popescu și colab. au publicat un punct de vedere în revista Science (Popescu et al 2019) pe tema marilor carnivore din România, în contextul unor schimbări legislative relativ recente, sugerând că aceste schimbări ar îmbunătăți coexistența omului cu aceste animale și ca atare, ar asigura perpetuarea acestor specii în viitor. Este vorba de decizia Ministerului Mediului de a nu emite un ordin de derogare în cazul speciilor urs, lup şi pisică sălbatică pentru anul 2016 (în ciuda conflictelor produse), decizie considerată a zgudui "un sistem de management prin vânătoare regulată existent de decenii", urmată în anul 2017 de emiterea unui astfel de ordin (interpretat de autorii punctului de vedere menționat ca fiind "un nou sistem de management").…”

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De ce ar fi carnivorele în România la o răscruce?

Stăncioiu

Micu²,

Stăncioiu

et al. 2019

Bucov. For.

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The paper brings into discussion the opinions of Popescu et al. published in 2019 regarding carnivore conservation in Romania in the context of some recent legislation changes, namely the decision of the Ministry of Environment not to issue for 2016 a derogation order for carnivores and the decision of the same ministry to issue such an order in 2017. This article provides important details on carnivore management and conservation along time and reveals the differences between the former active management and the present passive one (culling carnivores only when are dangerous to people, based on derogations). The latter resulted from the strict protection decided at the time of the accession in the European Union and was exacerbated by some further decisions (like those mentioned by Popescu et al.). The paper also addresses the coexistence with carnivores for centuries in the Romanian Carpathians and underlines the need for tolerance from those humans literally sharing the landscapes with carnivores. Such tolerance cannot be attained by the strict protection which intensifies conflicts instead of preventing or keeping them under control. Last but not least, it is proposed that scientific research (advocated by Popescu et al) should be used constantly and not only in a certain direction. Moreover, a precautionary approach should be invoked especially in the cases when changing a system which has worked well along decades is sought. In the case of carnivores in Romania, none of these two (a precautionary approach and scientific evidence) was used in taking the relatively recent decisions under discussion here. The paper concludes that for Romania to remain an example of coexistence of carnivores and humans for the rest of Europe and "to safeguard Europe's last wild frontier", the actual system which produces negative effects on conservation should be reconsidered and not perpetuated as Popescu et al. pretend.

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Romanian carnivores at a crossroads

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Are Large Carnivores the Real Issue? Solutions for Improving Conflict Management through Stakeholder Participation

Are Large Carnivores the Real Issue? Solutions for Improving Conflict Management through Stakeholder Participation

Applying Participatory Processes to Address Conflicts Over the Conservation of Large Carnivores: Understanding Conditions for Successful Management

De ce ar fi carnivorele în România la o răscruce?

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