Project Objectives

The project's objectives are:

To improve the conservation status of the species in terms of population levels and trends, by achieving a sustainable human-bear co-existence status through the minimization of bear-human interference and subsequent conflicts that are detrimental to the species;
To maintain human caused mortality at a sustainable level (i.e., not exceeding 4% of the minimum estimated population) in the project area;
To maintain the number of annual reproductive females at no less than 10-12% of the minimum estimated bear population in the targeted areas;
To improve the tolerance level of specific target groups regarding their coexistence with the brown bear;
To improve awareness about the added value the presence of the brown bear can confer on the project area (e.g. through labelling of local produce);
To increase the knowledge of the national park authorities staff on specific bear monitoring and management techniques; and
To put in place self-sustainable initiatives (such as providing guard dogs) that can prevent human-bear conflicts in the long term.