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A CALL for SCIENTISTS: PLEASE TAKE ACTION FOR WOLVES by 30 NOVEMBER 2024.

Open Letter, 26 November 2024

Open Letter, 26 November 2024

Mr Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe; Mr Mikaël Poutiers, Secretary of the Bern Convention

The EU Proposal on Wolf downlisting is unlawful and therefore unfit for being voted at the 2024 December, Standing Committee meeting of the Bern Convention.

The Proposal of the European Union (EU), initiated by the European Commission[1], to downgrade the conservation status of wolves is widely regarded as unlawful, lacking scientific justification, and violating principles of democratic participation and rule of law in policymaking. Consequently, it should not be considered for a vote at the Standing Committee Meeting of the Bern Convention in December 2024. Given the current circumstances, a reputational risk for the Bern Convention could arise if a vote allowed.

 

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_6752

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_4330

Wolf future at risk:

Wolf future at risk: politics not science, behind Commission’s downgrade plan. Decision on the EU proposal due on 2 – 6 December 2024 at the Bern Convention

 

Brussels, 21 November 2024Environmental Association Green Impact, together with Great Lakes and Wetlands and others, denounced the lack of science-backing and breach of democratic process stemming from the European Commission’s proposal to weaken the legal protection of the European Grey wolf (Canis lupus).

The associations called on Mikaël Poutiers, the Secretary General of the Bern Convention (on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), not to allow a vote at the forthcoming Standing Committee December meeting

Problem

The European Commission has presented at the EU Council a legislative Proposal to weaken the legal protection of the European Grey wolf (Canis lupus). Such a Proposal is not based on scientific evidence; however, it was adopted by most of the EU States, and it will be soon presented at the Bern Convention on the Conservation of Wildlife and Natural Habitats for possible delisting.  Such a delisting, if adopted, will consequently delist the wolf in the EU relevant law (EU Habitat and Species Directive).  Despite the efforts of European NGOs, the current European legal protection regime for wolves and the coexistence policies are now at stake. Two Scientific Statements, open for signatures to Scientists and Academics only, have been launched by a small group of experts in the field of conservation and environment – Green Impact has offered to host the initiative on its Website. The Statements will be sent to the Secretary General of the Bern Convention on 1st December 2024. This is call to Scientists to help securing that EU wolves conservation policies would remain founded on science and not politics. The decision on the delisting will be taken at the beginning of December 2024 at the Standing Committee Meeting of the Bern Convention.

For  Scientists and Academics only –  (post – graduate studies; PhD – candidate; PhD, Prof.; experts in Research Institutes)

Want to check who has already signed the Statements?
2024.11_Wolves-Letter – Google Drive

Statements of Scientists

Is the EU letting politics decide over science when it comes to conservation policy? We invite you to object to this decision.

By signing on two scientific Statements on Wolves, hundreds of Scientists are already urging the Secretary General of the Bern Convention not to allow a decision regarding the delisting of wolves at the forthcoming December 2024 meeting, since such a decision would not be based on science, due to the inherent lack of scientific evidence.

If the wolf is delisted at the Bern Convention’s December meeting, it will subsequently be delisted under EU law (Habitats and Species Directive). So far, scientists have shown tremendous support for the issues highlighted in defence of maintaining protection. Signatories are increasing by the day. We hope that more scientists will review these cases and if in agreement, sign urgently.

Please find below the text of two scientific Statements that you could  consider signing  – the Letters are addressed to the Secretary General of the Bern Convention and relevant Parties’ representatives.

For  Scientists and Academics only –  (post – graduate studies; PhD – candidate; PhD, Prof.; experts in Research Institutes)

Want to check who has already signed the Statements?
2024.11_Wolves-Letter – Google Drive

We also highlight that Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe / IUCN SSN has issued a  Statement advocating against the delisting of wolf, for lack of scientific evidence. READ the text: Download the PDF

Extract: ‘.. The current downlisting proposal, however, appears to be premature and faulty, for the reasons outlined above, and the LCIE does not recommend its adoption’.

Find out more

If you are a Concerned CITIZEN: we invite you to sign on the AVAAZ petition on this issue:
Link here

 

We help promoting the dissemination of the documentary film THE WOLF WITHIN – made in the Italian Apennines.
WATCH the TRAILER: https://www.thewolfwithin.eu/
The Wolf Within offers a profound message of coexistence, showing multiple perspectives on apex predators, mitigating the current politicisation of wolves, while spotlighting heroes of conservation embedded in rural communities
It is also free to stream for all on the WaterBear Network

Further information on this topic

Green Impact filed a formal complaint to the EU Ombudsman

In October 2024 Green Impact filed a formal complaint to the EU Ombudsman against the European Commission for abuse of power and false public statement in relation to the conservation status of European wolves. We are awaiting a response.

ClientEarth has filed a complaint to the EU Ombudsman

ClientEarth has filed a complaint to the EU Ombudsman on the Commission Proposal to delist wolf protection, the investigation has been formally launched: Find out more

Joint Statement by 300+ Civil Society Organisations

In September 2024, a Letter, promoted by EEB and other organizations and signed by +300 NGOs called for keeping the current wolf protection regime and promote coexistence: Find out more

Green Impact and other NGOs Letter to the Bern Convention

On 29 October 2024, Green Impact, European Bioeconomy Bureau (EBB), Nagytavak, Fertotobaratai published an Open Letter to the Secretary General of the Bern Convention:
Download the PDF

Cap Loup

Collectif des Associations pour la Protection du Loup en France

Novembre 2024, Mobilisation contre la révision du statut du loup. PETITION: Sacrifier le loup s’inscrit dans une réaction antiécologique profonde.

L’Union européenne vient d’accueillir favorablement, le 25 septembre, la proposition faite en 2023 par la présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, de réviser le statut de protection des loups en Europe, sans doute pour calmer un monde agricole. Nous appelons expressément les élus français et européens au maintien du classement du loup en espèce strictement protégée, car il est plus que jamais vital de sauvegarder et d’améliorer les dispositifs réglementaires permettant de lutter contre l’appauvrissement de la biosphère. Il est temps de faire la paix avec la nature.

Scientists urge EU Policy

makers to reinstate the GREEN  DEAL

May 2024 . Declaration promoted by    European Scientific Associations and signed by scientists ( 738+ signatures at 21.11.2024)  criticising  the European decision-makers for a series of decisions that undermine the EU’s environmental agenda and international obligations, resulting in an overall attack on the Green Deal, on nature, and the future of EU citizens.

The European Green Deal, in its original form, was poised to set ambitious steps for tackling these crises and addressing key societal challenges. However, the Green Deal is presently going through a continuous path of weakening, as elements of it are being lost or replaced in the policy process. As scientists, we are particularly concerned about a series of unjustified, poorly informed and rushed deregulations which fail to align with the dire need for transformative changes toward sustainability

18 November 2024

Letter of several NGOs including AVAAZ, EEB and Eurogroup for Animals to the Bern Convention National Focal Points calling for rejecting the EU Proposal

The European Union proposal to lower the protection status of the wolf is clearly a politically motivated U-turn away from an ambitious and science-based approach to species and ecosystems conservation. Indeed, the Parties to the Convention have rejected similar proposals to de-list the wolf in the Bern Convention meetings in 2006, 2018 and 2022 based on the absence of scientific evidence to alter this species’ protection status. There is still no scientific justification for it now, as shown also in the Commission’s in-depth assessment of the situation of the wolf in the EU published in December 2023.

May 2024

Letter of multiple organisations incluidng EEB, Birdlife, Eurogroup for Animals   addressed to thr EU Ambassadors asking to reject the Commission’s proposal to weaken wolf protection.

Dear Ambassadors , we strongly urge you to reject the European Commission proposal to lower the protection status of the wolf under the Bern Convention at

your upcoming meeting. This will send a clear signal that the EU takes its domestic and international commitments to protect and restore biodiversity seriously, on the basis of science-based policy making. The Commission’s proposal for the Council Decision to lower the protection status of the wolf is clearly a politically motivated U-turn.