ACTION C.6 – Implementation and promotion of the non-consumptive use of brown bears

Ecotourism is increasingly providing important economic opportunities for local communities in brown bear core area and as such has a high potential for enhancing brown bear value for public appreciation and small-scale ecotourism. Moreover, it gives an opportunity to educate people about mechanisms behind human-bear conflicts and ways to reduce them. Bear watching is already taking place in Slovenia and Croatia but since it is not supervised or organized in a systematic way, it can cause even negative impacts on bears. For this reason, we need to develop and implement guidelines for responsible use of brown bears in ecotourism. The action is designed to directly address threats related to the low tolerance of bears by the local inhabitants of the core area; however, we expect that it will help raising public awareness about the bear conservation at the European level. As well as ecotourism also the use of “bear-friendly” sign gives additional symbolical value to bears and subconsciously influences public’s minds to think about the bear in a different way – as a useful tool for promotion. The use of such sign will be linked with correct preventive measures used in farming and in such a way promoting it. Use of similar signs is known to positively affect attitudes of local residents involved in farming and reduce human-bear conflicts.

Latest C.6 actions: