The European Commission presented a proposal to reduce the protection status of the wolf according to the Bern Convention, which was supported by the majority of EU member states. With the adoption of this proposal, the current status of a strictly protected species will be replaced by a protected status.
As stated, thanks to its protection status, this species has successfully recovered across the European continent, with an estimated population of almost doubling in the last 10 years. This trend has led to socio-economic challenges, especially in relation to the wolf’s coexistence with human activities. The problem in animal husbandry stands out, as evidenced by the fact that wolves kill over 60,000 livestock in the European Union every year.
The new status would mean that any decision to exploit wolves, such as regulated killing or culling, must be carefully planned to ensure the population is not threatened.
The next step is that the Commission will submit a proposal to the secretariat of the Berne Convention. As explained, any amendment to the convention must be adopted by two-thirds of its contracting parties, and the amendment enters into force three months after its adoption. This leaves room for states to prepare and adapt to the new rules.
The official website of the European Environment Agency (EEB) states that this change opens the door to killing wolves as a bogus solution to damage caused to livestock.
“With this decision, the member states decided to ignore the call of more than 300 civil society organizations and hundreds of thousands of people who asked them to stick to scientific recommendations and increase efforts to establish coexistence with large carnivores through preventive measures,” reports EEB.
Sabien Lehmann, Senior Biodiversity Policy Officer at WWF, asked the question – How can we ask other regions to protect their biodiversity and live with species like tigers, lions or elephants, when we cannot live with wolves?
On its website, the EEB presented the opinions of experts who say that this destruction is one of the greatest conservation successes in recent decades, and that this decision not only jeopardizes decades of efforts, but represents a significant step backwards.
The Bern Convention was adopted in 1979 and entered into force in 1982. It is an international treaty of the Council of Europe that protects more than 500 species of wild plants and more than 1,000 species of wild animals. The Standing Committee of the Convention meets annually in Strasbourg, and the European Union and its member states are signatories to the Convention.
Katarina Vuinac
Source: energetskiportal.rs
