In May, University of Ljubljana organized a two-day workshop. The workshop was organized in frame of the project LIFE DINALP BEAR with purpose of harmonizing population level monitoring of brown bears in NW Dinaric Mountains and SE Alps. Project partners from Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Austria attended the workshop, as well as a representative from the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.

During the first day, project partners gave an overview of the monitoring activities and methods in their respective countries and discussed the problems they encountered in the course of the project. Next day everyone attending participated in a facilitated discussion to find practical solutions for establishing a multinational monitoring. As bear density in Alps and Dinarics is quite different, the biggest challenge was working with different priorities for each participating country as well as selecting the most suitable indicators for population and conflict monitoring.

Recommendations for modifications of national-level activities together with the discussed practical approaches for population level monitoring will be published in a report and presented to the responsible ministries in the respective countries. In the meantime, you can read our summary report about the content of the workshop here.