Brussels, 13/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Agricultural organisation Copa-Cogeca announced on Friday 13 February that it was resigning from the European platform on large carnivores.
The purpose of this platform is to find solutions to conflicts arising from attacks by large carnivores (wolves, brown bear, Eurasian lynx and wolverine) on livestock farms. Copa-Cogeca warns in a press release that “farmers' concerns are being ignored and livelihoods put at risk”.
In Europe, bears now total 17, 000, wolves 12,000, Eurasian lynx 9,000, and wolverines 1,000 in rural areas where farming is the main economic activity.
Copa-Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen berates the European Commission for “not listening” to the farming community's concerns. “Therefore we decided to exit from the Platform. We joined this Platform on co-existence between people and large carnivores as we believed it would help deal with the problems but no solutions have been found”, he said. Copa-Cogeca says the platform focuses on good practices “for conserving large carnivores instead of identifying solutions to improve the situation for local rural people. This is unacceptable”.
Attacks on livestock farms are on the rise, particularly in countries like France, Finland, Sweden, causing severe production and income losses and threatening farmers' livelihoods, state the organisations.
Furthermore, Pesonen believes that the strong protection for these emblematic species is beginning to “threaten the existence of grassland rich in biodiversity that is maintained by grazing with many other protected species depending on it”. Implementing the EU habitats directive itself is, he said, an obstacle in addressing conflicts arising from the presence of large carnivores. Copa-Cogeca advocates an amendment of the directive to take account of the dynamic growth of large carnivores in many regions of the EU. “Solely focusing on protections measures is no longer an option. Solutions must be found”, they argue. (Lionel Changeur)