Bern Convention

Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats

The complaint was submitted by three citizens and an NGO according to whom, the Norwegian wolf management is incompatible with national law and international agreements such as the Bern Convention, through which the wolf is protected.

The complainants state that the area in which the wolf is protected has over the last years been lowered to 5 percent of the country’s surface. However, even in this normally strict protection area, wolves are allegedly culled with a prolonged hunting season. The complainants state that the population target that has been adopted for the wolf by the Norwegian Government so low and the area in which it lives undisturbedly so small, that the continued existence of the species in Norway is endangered. This is also due to a lack in genetic variation, which causes a high degree of inbreeding in Norwegian and Swedish wolves. The reason for the high wolf hunting numbers is allegedly due to conflicts with sheep grazing, in which too few options for adaptation of farming to the presence of the wolf are considered and the wolf is hunted also in non-grazing-areas

 Key Timeline

• 2022 - Case registration

 Other countries possibly concerned

• N/A

 Other international organisations involved

• N/A

 Documents

Complaint form

Regular reports to the Bureau and/or Standing Committee

Please note that all reports received by a Party during one calendar year are included in one single report for that year. Some older reports are not available in digital form.

Other information / documents