Societal Change Unit

Finding ways to coexist with wildlife is one of the most controversial challenges of our time. Wolves, bears, lynx and wolverines (in Scandinavia) are increasingly returning to their former habitats, leading to conflicts between conservationists and livestock farmers and to socio-economic problems in livestock farming. To reduce such conflicts, we need to educate ourselves, design evidence-based advisory models, and work with farmers, landowners, hunters, and citizens facing ‘large carnivores’ to develop regional and supra-regional solutions to their problems. To this end, the EUROLARGECARNIVORES project ‘Improving co-existence with large carnivores in Europe through communication, cross-border cooperation and knowledge exchange’ was supported by the EU LIFE programme. While the primary focus is on reducing anxieties and protecting farm animals, issues such as illegal killings, migration corridors, and investment and support needs are also addressed in addition to herd protection.

The 17 partner institutions and over 65 employees from 14 European countries with 12 languages were highly motivated to create a European network and a platform on which all stakeholders can exchange ideas across borders. For many of the social, political and economic challenges posed by wolf, lynx, bear and wolverine, solution-oriented case studies and recommended examples of certain aspects of large carnivore management were developed, which were considered by the participants of the EuroLargeCarnivores project in various European countries to be successful or at least promising, providing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

The results of the project have been used to derive recommendations for action for different levels of political decision-making. Information material has been produced in different languages for keepers of various farm animals and pets, for committed members of non-governmental organisations and associations, and for journalists and teachers (e.g. the European ‘Factsheets’ (provided in multiple languages, including German). 

For additional materials, see Life Euro Large Carnivores

The FVA’s Societal Change Unit, in cooperation with the FVA Wildlife Institute and the elmauer institute: managing consensus, had the primary tasks of:

• providing strategic and methodological advice and support to partners on the social science aspects of this work;
• conducting regional participatory stakeholder identification and analysis at the start of the project in order to improve the understanding of local contexts and to provide a basis for future activities;
• conducting an impact analysis at the end of the project using these initial data and predefined success indicators.

The corresponding publication and report can be found here:

• Human-Large Carnivores Co-existence in Europe – A Comparative Stakeholder Network Analysis
• Monitoring the Project’s Impact: A Comparative Stakeholder Analysis „before“ and „after“

To the Website

Forestry training courses have been held in Baden-Württemberg since 2016: A permanent team of trainers regularly trains ForstBW employees directly at their workplace and thus demonstrates the Forest Development Type Directive introduced in 2014 in a practical manner.

This evaluation study focused on the direct impact of forestry training on the participants and on the frame conditions that influence training effectiveness. In addition to standardised surveys and group discussions were carried out and analysed using reconstructive methods.

Important factors for a successful implementation of the training contents include the relevance of the contents for the participants, characteristics of the participants, quality of the training itself, the working environment in everyday life, as well as the companys’ internal framework conditions for the application of what has been learned. Recommendations for the further development of the training courses have been developed on this basis.

Contact: Ms. Kristina Wirth

InnoForESt seeks to spark a transformation of the European forest sector by stimulating innovations for the sustainable supply and financing of forest ecosystem services.

Take a look at our policy briefs

To the Website

To the publication “The Forest Has Become Our New Living Room”

Contact: Mr. Hannes Weinbrenner