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Primary producers' positions towards bears and bear conservation: Insights for human–bear coexistence

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We present primary producers' (farmers', livestock breeders', beekeepers') positions towards bears and bear conservation as documented through semi‐structured interviews within the frame of human dimensions actions of LIFE projects implemented between 2015 and 2022 in Greece. Our objective is to highlight primary producers' engagement in implementing methods for preventing damages caused by bears and developmental opportunities to support local income and partially balance damages caused by bears. We coded 54 interviews with 18 farmers, 23 livestock breeders and 13 beekeepers and we illustrate specific aspects of human–bear interaction. Most interviewees validated the effectiveness of damage prevention methods but also noted several weaknesses in the existing compensation system, which were perceived as a lack of recognition of their labour. Our findings showcase how damage prevention methods were adapted by primary producers to local contexts through a social experimentation process, which involved extra workload and gave rise to unexpected developments of human–bear interaction. These findings can add an insightful dimension to convivial bear conservation, underlining its historical character and the need to tackle emerging challenges. There were quite a few instances where interviewees, especially beekeepers, elaborated on human–bear interaction, singling out the ‘cleverness’ of the bear that both surprised them but also kept them alert in many ways. Such instances revealed that human‐bear interactions were evolving and seemed to proceed as if bears attempted to outsmart primary producers' use of damage prevention methods. The opposite was also true, especially when primary producers tried to adapt to bears' new manoeuvres and regain momentum and advantage in their interaction. When discussing developmental opportunities related to bear presence, there were interviewees who supported various initiatives for certifying bear friendly products and services but also identified gaps and inconsistencies in the certification system and asked for new iterations or extensions of such initiatives to address the identified issues. Based on our findings, we recommend how existing policy instruments may not only target human–bear conflict but also promote innovation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Source: People and Nature

DOI: 10.1002/pan3.70096

Authors: Tasos Hovardas, Dimitris Bormpoudakis, Giorgos Chatzinakos

Language: English

Topic: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,540

Funder: LIFE programme