LIFE Human Bear Coex

During the month of May, we had the pleasure of accompanying an institutional delegation from the Government of Andorra, led by the Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Guillem Casal; the Director of the Department of Environment and Sustainability, Sílvia Ferrer; the Director of the Cos de Banders (Andorra’s environmental ranger corps), Ferran Teixidó; and the Wildlife Unit specialists Jordi Solà, Héctor del Val, and Josep Maria Sánchez.

The purpose of the visit, as Minister Guillem Casal himself explained, was to prepare for the stable return of the brown bear in Andorra, acknowledging that its conservation requires active planning and ensuring incident‑free coexistence between human activities and the presence of the bear. In this regard, Somiedo was seen as a particularly relevant example, both for the management of its territory and for the similarities it shares with Andorra.

Throughout the visit, experiences and insights were exchanged with David Villar and Marcos Da Rocha (General Directors of Land Stewardship and Agricultural Planning of the Principality of Asturias, respectively), Belarmino Fernández (Mayor of Somiedo), Luis Fernando Alonso (Director of the Somiedo Natural Park), and—within the framework of the LIFE Human Bear COEX project—with Guillermo Palomero (President of the Brown Bear Foundation), as well as representatives from other key bear areas such as Mario Rivas (Mayor of Villablino, Castilla y León).

A few days earlier, we accompanied a team from the Cos de Banders, who exchanged information and experiences on bears and capercaillies with environmental technicians and agents from the Principality of Asturias and the Regional Government of Castilla y León, as well as with teams from the Brown Bear Foundation. These meetings are always highly valuable, helping to expand the knowledge of all participants, encouraging discussion on shared challenges and solutions, and strengthening cooperation among territories that face common biodiversity conservation issues.

On Monday 11th November, LIFE Human Bear Coex organised a conference in Cangas del Narcea (Asturias) with around twenty technicians and managers from the partner municipalities, to share the progress made and plan the next steps of the project, in which the FOP works hand in hand with the local population. The exchange of knowledge and experiences, and mutual learning, is vital to continue advancing and working positively for the coexistence between humans and bears.

The nine municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain (6 in Asturias and 3 in León) are leading the LIFE Human Bear Coex, an initiative to prevent and mitigate conflicts between humans and bears in towns and their environments, with a battery of actions promoted from the territory, among others:

• Clearing of security perimeters in inhabited areas and the busiest paths, an action that not only prevents chance encounters, but also contributes to wildfire prevention.
• Planting fruit trees far from houses, complementing the food that the forest already offers to bears.
• Protection of elements (such as beehives or fodder deposits) that may attract the bears.
• Monitoring and early warning of conflicts in inhabited environments.
• Testing innovative prevention methods, such as ‘anti-bear’ rubbish containers and covers.

Photo of the meeting of the LIFE Human Bear Coex partners in Cangas del Narcea (Asturias).

Our goal is to have ZERO HABITUATED BEARS to people or human food sources in the Cantabrian Mountains. Coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) and funded by the European Union, the nine municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain (Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Proaza, Cangas del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias, in Asturias, and Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil in León) are partners of LIFE Coexistence between Humans and Bears. The Junta de Castilla y León and the Principality of Asturias support it as partners, and the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León and the Fundación Oso de Asturias participate as collaborators.

This week we travelled to Majella National Park, in Italy’s Abruzzo region, to learn first-hand about the actions being carried out to promote coexistence between humans and bears in the LIFE arcprom project.

In Italy, the project focuses on the Apennine brown bear, which with less than a hundred individuals is considered ‘critically endangered’. In the Majella National Park, work has been underway for some time to prevent the habituation of certain individuals, with measures such as bear tagging and radio-tracking. In Greece, the project works in three National Parks (Rhodopes, Prespa and Pindos). The bear population in Greece is larger than in Spain, so there is much to learn for future scenarios with the species in our country.

The Italian and Greek specialists have shown great interest in the actions we are carrying out in Asturias and León in the LIFE Human Bear Coex, and for the exceptional local leadership and protagonism in a project of these characteristics: the 9 municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain (6 in Asturias and 3 in León) are partners in the project. We continue working so that there are ZERO habituated bears in the Cantabrian Mountains.

LIFE Human Bear Coex is coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) and the Asturian councils of Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Cangas del Narcea, Ibias, Degaña and Proaza, and the León municipalities of Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil are beneficiary partners. The regional administrations of the Principality of Asturias and the Junta de Castilla y León collaborate as partners. The Fundación Oso de Asturias and the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León act as third parties with contributions in kind.

The search for easy food in garbage by some bears occurs in all bear populations in the world, also in the Cantabrian Mountains. In recent times, some cases have been detected of bears that approach to garbage containers in specific places, generally in remote or little frequented areas: a challenge that we are tackling from the LIFE Human Bear Coex.

Thus, within the framework of the project, a pilot test of bear-proof container covers has been launched, with a prototype designed by the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP), the IMIB – Joint Institute for Biodiversity Research (University of Oviedo – CSIC – Principality of Asturias), and the Principality of Asturias. This prototype has been installed for the moment next to a small rural village in Ibias (Asturias), in some containers on the side of the road that had been repeatedly frequented by bears.

At the same time, there has been collaboration with the Junta de Castilla y León for the acquisition and implementation of container covers on the Leonese side, in this case following the model developed on the basis of an assessment of the risk of use of rubbish containers by brown bears in this region.

Model of bear-proof container cover installed in Asturias (left) and León (right).

The use of bear-proof garbage containers and container-covers is the most widely used solution in most of the areas where humans and bears coexist. Therefore, during the LIFE project, it is foreseen to place 45 bear-proof bins and 45 container covers, which will be installed on the basis of the conclusions obtained in this pilot test.

As explained in the FOP study, ‘Bears and rubbish in the Cantabrian Mountains. Anticipating new challenges’, these actions can be combined with other preventive and waste management measures to ensure their effectiveness. During the project, action will be taken to clean up landfills or other illegal accumulations of garbage, and information campaigns will also be developed among neighbours about bears and rubbish management.

Pilot test of bear-proof container covers in northern Leon, in the framework of the LIFE project Coexistence between Humans and Bears.

Our objective, together with the 9 municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain, is to ensure that there is not a single bear in the Cantabrian Mountains that is accustomed to rubbish or other human food sources.

Coordinated by the FOP, LIFE Human Bear Coex partners are the councils of Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Proaza, Cangas del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias, in Asturias, and the municipalities of Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil in Leon. The regional goverments of Castilla y León and the Principality of Asturias support the project as associated partners, and the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León and the Fundación Oso de Asturias participate as collaborators. The bear-proof container pilot test has been funded by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, within the framework of the FOP’s URSUS Programme for scientific research applied to the conservation of the species .

Advancing from conflict towards an effective co-existence, which benefits both people and biodiversity, is one of the major challenges for nature conservation around the world. It is a challenge that spans endangered as well as more common species, the larger as well as the smaller fauna. With the aim of sharing ideas and solutions to advance in this field, the LIFE Iberconejo and LIFE Human Bear COEX projects organised a webinar on 27 May, which was attended by more than fifty people.

‘Bears in village environments: can we anticipate potential conflict?’ was the title of the talk by María Párraga, project coordinator of the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP), in which she analysed the recovery of the brown bear and the changes in the rural areas of the Cantabrian Mountains that are behind this phenomenon, and how FOP is working with local councils to ensure coexistence.

Alberto Navarro, LIFE Human Bear COEX project technician, explained the details of the Protocol for intervention with bears in the Cantabrian Mountains, approved in 2019 by the State Commission for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, and the different situations that can lead the competent administrations to act.

The recording of the seminar is available here (in spanish):

We want bears, but away from the villages. This is the message reiterated today by the six municipalities with the highest density of bears in the region of Asturias, meeting with the Principado de Asturias and the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) in the constitution of the Asturian Coordination Committee of the LIFE Human Bear COEX project. The initiative, of which nine town councils from Asturias and Castilla y León are partners, seeks to mitigate possible conflicts with the species and ensure that not a single bear in the Cantabrian Mountains becomes habituated to humans.

During the meeting of the project coordination committee in Asturias, the details of the action plan to prevent the presence of bears in the vicinity of the villages were agreed, which will be carried out by two prevention teams managed by the local councils themselves.

Town mayors and Principado and FOP representatives, after the meeting in Somiedo

Among the tasks of the teams, made up of local workers, will be to maintain security perimeters in the villages and along roads by clearing vegetation; clearing illegal accumulations of rubbish that could attract bears; and planting fruit trees away from the villages. Throughout the project area, in Asturias and the northwest of León, 50,000 native fruit trees will be planted in 250 groves to generate more food resources for bears in the bush and discourage them from seeking easy food in human settlements.

Goal: no habituated bears in the Cantabrian mountains

The goal of the project, coordinated by the FOP and funded by the European Union’s LIFE programme, is that there will not be a single bear habituated to people or human food sources, such as rubbish.

As defined in the Protocol for Intervention with Bears in the Cantabrian Mountains (approved in 2019 by the State Commission for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity), ‘a habituated bear is a bear that recurrently accesses inhabited areas in search of accessible trophic resources (food), such as vegetable gardens or rubbish containers, and does not respond by fleeing in the presence of humans’.

A young bear looks for garbage inside a bin in Asturias. Credit: FOP

Within the framework of the project, a specialised team from the FOP will respond immediately to problematic situations: for example, by protecting chicken coops, fruit trees or other assets that attract plantigrades. In this sense, the project complements and strengthens the actions being developed by the Principado’s Regional Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agricultural Policy to ensure coexistence with the species in Asturias. The capture and radio-tracking of 10 bears is foreseen, prioritising those specimens that look for easy food around human environments, and bear-proof containers and rubbish bins will also be installed.

Coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation, the nine municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain (Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Proaza, Cangas del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias, in Asturias, and Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil in León) are partners of LIFE Coexistence between Humans and Bears. The Junta de Castilla y León and the regional government of Asturias support it as partners, and the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León and the Fundación Oso de Asturias participate as collaborators.

Nine municipalities in the western Cantabrian mountains, which host the highest density of brown bears in Spain, will be the main actors in a new conservation Project supported by the European Union’s LIFE Programme. “LIFE Human Bear Coex”, coordinated by the Fundacion Oso Pardo (FOP – Brown Bear Foundation), aims to prevent the incursion of bears to villages and their surroundings, as well as to mitigate possible conflicts with the species in those areas with larger populations of the species.

Although the Cantabrian brown bear is still endangered, the species is moving away from the brink of extinction, with around 370 individuals in 2020 according to data from the last census. This recovery, together with the bears’ capacity to adapt and the changes that have taken place in rural areas in recent decades, is associated with an increase in human-bear interactions.

«The recovery of the Cantabrian brown bear is a conservation success story, recognised beyond our borders, and one of its key drivers has been the constant dialogue and agreements with the local communities», explains the president of the FOP, Guillermo Palomero. «With this LIFE project, the inhabitants of the territory get together to keep the bear away from the villages, a key challenge to ensure the future of the species».

The involvement of the territory is at the heart of the project, as the 9 municipalities where it will be developed – Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Proaza, Cangas del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias, in Asturias, and Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil in León – act as Project Partners: an uncommon level of local involvement in a LIFE project.

The regional goverments of Castilla y León and Asturias support it as Project Associates. Over the years, they have been implement measures to favour the coexistence between bears and human activities – compensating damages, subsidising electric fencing and other deterrent equipment. Both governments have established field teams of specialised staff to apply the negative conditioning measures to bears with a tendency to habituate. The Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León and the Fundación Oso de Asturias participate as collaborators, providing equipment and personnel for the information and awareness-raising actions.

The project, which will last four and a half years, has a total budget of 4,200,000 euros, with 75% of the funds provided by the European Union’s LIFE programme.
The project’s main actions fall into three key areas: prevention, management of human-bear interactions, and information, awareness and environmental education campaigns.

Creating Jobs and capacity for local workers

The prevention actions aim to keep bears away from villages. They will be carried out by three teams managed by the local councils themselves, two in Asturias and one in León, staffed by unemployed people from the local area. Besides creating rural jobs, the project will train these local workers and provide them with tools and vehicles. The mission of these local teams will be to maintain security perimeters in the villages and on paths by clearing bush vegetation to avoid interactions with bears, clearing around a hundred paths.

A brown bear eating wild cherries in the Cantabrian mountains. Picture by Fundacion Oso Pardo.

They will also remove illegal accumulations of rubbish or other attractants. These actions are expected to reach at least 120 villages, providing comfort to local residents.
These teams will also undertake the planting of 50,000 native fruit trees, distributed in 250 groves located far away from the villages. The aim is to generate food resources for bears in the Bush, that will discourage them from seeking easy food sources in human settlements.

Immediate response to human-bear interactions

The actions to manage conflicts with bears will be carried out by a FOP specialised team, which will resolve problematic situations by removing elements that attract bears on a recurring basis. Domestic animal facilities, chicken coops, fruit trees and other assets will be protected using 200 solar-powered fences, metal mesh and other prevention elements. Bear repelling techniques –including 90 electronic systems based on sound, ultrasound and light– will be tested experimentally. The project will closely monitor their effectiveness and usefulness in order to replicate the experience in the future.

The project will install 45 bear containers and 45 container-covering structures in collaboration with and complementing the initiatives of both Regional Governments, as well as exploring other innovative ways to prevent bears from accessing rubbish.

A young bear looking for garbage inside a container. Picture by Fundacion Oso Pardo.

Both in Castilla y León and Asturias, the administrations have been successfully developing bear collaring and radio-tracking programmes, prioritising those specimens with behaviours of habituation to easy food in population environments. In this sense, the LIFE project supports the programme in Asturias – the collaring and monitoring of 10 bears involved in recurrent approaches to villages, possible habituation or conditioning to food sources is planned throughout the whole Project.

Information, awareness-raising and environmental education campaigns

The campaign will include more than 160 talks and meetings with the residents of the 9 municipalities, to inform about the causes and consequences of the presence of bears in the villages, and to discuss how to prevent it. Information will be provided on good practices for garbage disposal and, meanwhile, an environmental education campaign will reach 2,300 schoolchildren in 27 rural schools.

A rural community in southwestern Asturias, sorrounded by prime brown bear habitat. Picture by Fundacion Oso Pardo. 

Furthermore, considering the importance of the project for the future conservation and management of the Cantabrian Brown Bear population, the project envisages the establishment of an advisory and management committee both autonomous communities, made up of representatives of all the participating administrations, experts and technicians.