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.