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Minister of the Environment, Waters and Forestry Tanczos Barna, said in Oradea on Monday that there are funds for preventing conflicts with large carnivores under a 10-million-euro project funded by the Ministry of European Investment and Projects (MIPE) that will start during the week.
At a news conference, he was asked if the ministry will financially support an investment programme for the prevention of conflicts with large carnivores, given that, according to WWF Romania, the ministry has not allocated any money for them, and the only investment - in electric fences and shepherd dogs - in the last 15 years was conducted only by environmental organisations.
"Yes, it can and should be welcomed. I welcome the initiative of the organisation and the WWF activists. It is commendable how they approach this issue. This week starts the programme financed with 10 million euros from MIPE that will finance a lot prevention actions and the most comprehensive scientific estimate of the number of specimens in the brown bear population. We will fund other measures as well. This week, on Wednesday, at 10:30hrs, we will also have a news conference with Mr Ghinea. I will give a concrete answer, with figures and amounts, on Wednesday at 10:30hrs. It is the object of the funding contract and we will present it on Wednesday," said the Environment Minister, Agerpres informs.
According to him, electric fences are a local solution and can protect certain crops, certain areas such as sheepfolds, for example, but not all alpine pastures can be fenced off with electric fencing because both transhumance and grazing in mountain areas require travelling tens of kilometres every day.
The WWF Romania team organized on Friday, July 23, a media visit to two sheepfolds, in the Padis area of the Apuseni Natural Park under a LIFE project that includes 16 partners from 15 countries in Europe, with several activities, including sharing best practices for the prevention of conflicts between humans and large carnivores, and exchanges of experience between farmers.
