The Secretariat of the Bern Convention attended the Expert Workshop on the Conservation of the Carpathian Lynx in west-central Europe, held in the Harz National Park, Germany, on 11-12 May 2023.
The Workshop was organised in cooperation with the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, Kora, the Alfred Toepfer Academy for Nature, Landesjagdverband Niedersachsen, and HIT Umwelt- und Naturschutz Stiftungs-GmbH as a follow-up to the Bonn Conference in 2019, also co-organised by the Convention. It aimed to further advance the concepts, cooperation and coordination of lynx conservation, and in particular of the Carpathian lynx in west-central Europe.
The Bern Convention, with its more than 30 years’ experience with lynx conservation, was able to provide some financial support to the meeting, and the Secretariat provided valuable input on policy matters especially in relation to collaboration with international conventions.
The outputs of the meeting will contribute to progress of the relevant Standing Committee recommendations on this subject, notably Recommendation no. 204 (2019) on the Conservation of the Eurasian lynx in Continental Europe. In particular the meeting aimed to further advance the elaboration of a possible dedicated Working Group to lynx conservation in Europe, and to develop protocols and guidelines.
Background information on the Harz National Park and lynx conservation
Intensive human persecution led to the extinction of the Eurasian lynx in Central Europe around 200 years ago. With the Harz lynx project, a resettlement attempt was started for the first time in Germany at the beginning of 2000. Since then, hunters and conservationists have been working together to preserve Europe's largest cat. With success, because today you can say: "An old Harzer is back!" In the meantime, the lynx has re-established itself in the Harz Mountains and is even spreading beyond the borders of the northernmost German low mountain range.
Further information on this initiative can be found here.
More information on the Bern Convention and lynx conservation can be found here.
