Objective
The three new national parks in central Italy - Monti Sibillini, Gran Sasso-Monti della Laga and Maiella-Morrone - form an almost unbroken and homogeneous system. They are key areas for wolves and bears; the most critical sites for these two carnivores are now inside the national parks. However, a number of risk factors remain, such as stray dogs, uncontrolled dumping of rubbish, poaching and the unsustainable use of natural resources. The three parks were only established recently and have not yet got a management plan. The LIFE project will provide useful elements for such plans when these are drawn up by the park administrations.
The project, co-financed by the Environment Ministry, is to carry out integrated emergency measures for bears and wolves throughout all three national parks. The idea is to tackle all the main threats with a package of parallel actions covering the whole area for a four-year period and targeting the expansion of the two species both inside and outside the protected areas.
Existing and potential ecological corridors will be identified; the latter, after their suitability for the dispersion of bears and wolves has been confirmed, will be the object of biotope improvement measures. These measures will be either short-term (for example, temporary artificial feeding places) or long-term (for example, re-introduction of wild ungulates). Uncontrolled rubbish dumping will also be addressed through a census of such dumps and actions to clean them up or fence them in. Herdsmen will be encouraged to go back to employing the traditional sheepdogs and livestock enclosures will be built. Stray dogs are probably the most serious problem the bears and wolves have to face and the project intends to complete data collection on the subject and to plan and execute a programme for the capture of strays, in collaboration with the competent authorities for this issue.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
00199 Roma
Italy