What to Do When Nature Conservation Is Successful and Humans ...

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environmental conditions and strict nature protection laws have resulted in rare or locally extinct animal species returning, increasing in numbers or even.
Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 11:207–210, 2008 C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Copyright  ISSN: 1388-0292 print / 1548-1476 online DOI: 10.1080/13880290802470307

What to Do When Nature Conservation Is Successful and Humans Face Competition Again? IRENE RING1 KLAUS HENLE2 REINHARD KLENKE2 CARSTEN NEßHO¨ VER2 TILO ARNHOLD3

1. INTRODUCTION Human activities endanger many species on national, European, and global levels. This is particularly true for large vertebrates that require comparatively large tracts of semi-natural ecosystems where they often compete with humans for biological resources. However, in many parts of Europe, improved environmental conditions and strict nature protection laws have resulted in rare or locally extinct animal species returning, increasing in numbers or even occupying new habitats. This is reigniting old conflicts between humans and wildlife. Over a period of three years, about 60 scientists in seven European model regions investigated in the EU-funded project Framework for Biodiversity Reconciliation Action Plans (FRAP), how different countries are dealing with these conflicts and what methods there are of reconciling nature conservation and fisheries, taking three fish-eating species as models—the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra, the continental race of the great cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis, and the Baltic grey seal, Halichoerus grypus. To mark the conclusion of the FRAP-project, around 100 experts from 20 countries were invited to an international conference on “Management of conflicts between wildlife and human resource use” at the Helmholtz Centre 1

Corresponding author: UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Economics, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]. 2 UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Conservation Biology, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. 3 UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Public Relations, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.

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for Environmental Research (UFZ) in January 2006. The conference was also endorsed by bioSUSTAINABILITY, a core project of the international DIVERSITAS programme of biodiversity science. Next to the presentation of project results, there were intense exchanges on comparable conflicts from all over the world. The variety of possible approaches shows that successful conflict management has to take into account ecological and social relationships, but also involves relevant stakeholder groups in the decision-making processes.

2. THE OTTER—AN ACCEPTED RETURNEE The history of humans and otters is one full of misunderstandings. Although otters do mainly eat fish, if there is an adequate supply of food, they prefer small manageable snacks—fish between ten and 20 centimetres—rather than large carp (Cyprinus carpio). Their preferred meals would include perch (Perca fluviatilis), and other fish species of little commercial interest. Carp ponds become the otter’s favourite stomping ground only when the surrounding landscape has been cleared out and does not offer much in the way of food. Harsh winters also play a role, demonstrated by food studies carried out as part of the species conservation programme for the otter in Saxony, Germany. If, in addition, market conditions for local fish worsen, the fishermen can start to feel the pinch. But is that the otter’s fault? Certainly, the otter population in Upper Lusatia, a Saxon region rich in natural water bodies and artificial fish ponds, has increased. Nevertheless, the population is by no means secure, as UFZ models have shown: increased losses through road kill, and the continuing loss of habitat continue to take their toll. The population growth would therefore already appear to have passed its peak and in about one hundred years this trend could lead to an unexpected collapse of the otter population in Saxony. Compared with the model region in Southern Bohemia (Czech Republic), the relationship between Saxon fish farmers and the otters is relatively amicable. This is thanks to a number of EU co-financed measures introduced by the Free State of Saxony, which support technical defensive measures like otter fences and offer fish farmers compensation payments for ecological services. Payments are made for environmentally sound aquaculture or for stocking the ponds with additional carp, which can then serve as food for the otters. In this way, the fish farmer’s active contribution to nature conservation is rewarded by society. In Southern Bohemia, mainly large-scale carp farmers in the lowlands are satisfied with the existing damage compensation scheme, whereas conflicts are still salient in the highlands with regard to small- and medium-scale farmers as well as anglers.

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3. THE CORMORANT—CONQUEROR OF OLD AND NEW SHORES The situation for the cormorant is very different: Unlike the otter, these black birds are often seen as invaders. The cormorant illustrates clearly the fact that birds do not stop at national boundaries. Affected not least by environmental and climate changes, the few colonies left in the middle of the last century have produced many more colonies both large and small. The birds generally breed along the coasts of Europe and then migrate to the Mediterranean for the winter, passing through Germany among other countries on the way. Scientists estimate that in 1999/2000, there were up to 115.000 breeding pairs of cormorants in the main breeding area of the European countries Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Poland with a still growing tendency.4 Uncoordinated local measures are not very effective with such mobile species. Since there are currently more cormorants than breeding places, when mass shootings are carried out, as in Northern Germany in summer 2005, more birds simply take their place. The cormorant problem demonstrates that there are coordination problems between individual countries, but also at the European level. There is a need for an international observation system and better coordination of management measures.

4. THE GREY SEAL—HOME-COMER FROM THE NORTHERN BALTIC The third animal studied in the FRAP research project was the Baltic grey seal and the conflicts surrounding it in Finland and Sweden. Grey seals are spreading farther and farther southwards with an annual growth rate of just under 9 percent—to the joy of nature conservationists and the annoyance of coastal fishermen. In Sweden a national grey seal management plan has been in place for several years now, and in Finland such a plan is about to be introduced to improve coordination of management measures. Resettlement attempts on the German Baltic coast may have been postponed indefinitely, but it is still only a matter of time before German fishermen too are confronted with the seals—and thus the need for conflict reconciliation measures will rise.

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See Morten Frederiksen, Jean–Dominique Lebreton, Thomas Bregnballe, Modelling the Effect of Winter Culls on Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Population Size in Europe: The Importance of Spatial Variability in Culling Intensity. In Cormorants: Ecology and Management. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Cormorants. DIE VOGELWELT 124, Suppl., 325–330, Thomas M. Keller, David N. Carss, Andreas J. Helbig, Martin Flade, eds. (2003).

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5. THREE CONFLICTS—ONE MAGIC FORMULA? There will always be conflicts between wildlife and human resource use. Species like the otter, wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), and seals in Europe, elephants in Africa and India and the snow leopard (Unica unica) in the Himalayas will continue to compete with humans for food. So on the one hand, it is a matter of finding solutions that safeguard viable populations of the endangered species—a task to which Germany and numerous other countries at European and international level have committed themselves. On the other hand, compensation must be provided to protect the legitimate interests of injured parties, since the cost of nature conservation should be borne by society as a whole, and not only by individual sectors of the economy like fisheries or agriculture. More needs to be done at the European level to ensure that national compensation solutions no longer fall victim to European state aid regulation, as they have in Finland for instance.5 Yet conflict solutions need not always be costly. Sometimes small changes to farming methods can prevent serious losses; or comprehensive information and the timely involvement of stakeholders can lead to a consensus between nature conservationists and users of nature. There is no magic formula, but one of the main aims of the EU’s FRAP project was to develop a general approach for analysing such conflicts and for developing and assessing suitable management strategies. To what extent this has been achieved was discussed in Leipzig during the international conference with scientists and practitioners from all over the world. Novel approaches in biodiversity conflict management were presented during plenary and parallel sessions that covered contributions from all relevant disciplines such as conservation biology, ecology, economics, law, and other social sciences. A special focus was on integrative approaches combining knowledge from different disciplines for successful conflict management as well as on bridging science and society through the inclusion of stakeholders. If wildlife conservation is to be successful in the long run, participatory conflict management based on natural and social scientific knowledge is required. The major results of the FRAP project, complemented by selected conference presentations, will soon be published in a new book on human-wildlife conflict management. Forfurther information on the EU-funded project FRAP or the international conference on “Management of conflicts between wildlife and human resource use,” 25–27 January 2006, in Leipzig, Germany, visit http://www. frap-project.net/.

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See Jukka Simil¨a, Randi Thum, Riku Varjopuro & Irene Ring, Protected species in conflict with fisheries: The interplay between European and national regulation. JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND LAW 5, 432–445 (2006).