First meeting of the human-bear coexistence platform was held in the Maiella National Park.
Coexistence with the Apennine brown bear in the Maiella National Park. This is the topic on which the stakeholders interested by interactions with the bears met yesterday at the Park headquarters in Sulmona, Central Italy.
The initiative was carried out in the frame of Action C1 of the LIFE ARCPROM project, a concrete conservation action specifically aimed to promote human-bear coexistence in the Maiella Park and in 3 National Parks in Greece (North Pindo, Prespa and Rodopi). The one held on June 30 was the first meeting of the coexistence platform to which representatives of institutions and stakeholders potentially involved were invited. The platform meetings, carried out with a participatory method and coordinated by a facilitator, will allow the various stakeholders to confront each other thus favouring the identification of the elements necessary to improve coexistence with bears. The platform will meet every 6 months and the work carried out will be shared in annual workshops open to all interested parties.
The conservation of the brown bear necessarily passes through coexistence with people. It is with this awareness that in the LIFE ARCPROM action C1 has been included and with this same awareness the Maiella National Park started to pursue the path of dialogue with the territory by applying state of the art methods and hiring expert staff. Collaboration with and between stakeholders and teamwork will be crucial for the implementation of this activity which, in fact, is one of the most important conservation actions for the protection of bears.
