The successful vote by the European Commission's Committee of Permanent Representatives on 25 September to change the wolf's status from "strictly protected" to "protected" under the Bern Convention is a threefold victory:
– A victory for the Habitats Directive adopted in 1992. The aim of the directive is to restore habitats and species diversity in Europe. The wolf population, which had almost disappeared in Western Europe, has once again recovered widely across the whole of Europe. The Habitats Directive can now be regarded as a functioning legal instrument in which nature conservation success stories can be embedded.
– A victory for the work of the institutions, which know how to deliver sound political decisions when they are needed.
– A victory for the wolf population, which is experiencing an unprecedented boom in Europe (an 81% increase over 10 years). Coexistence with people, along with the conflicts that come with it, is becoming ever more widespread.
The European Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation (FACE) lobbied very actively over several months to win support for changing the wolf's protection status. Although as late as 24 September the expectation was that the proposal would not be supported, since many governments do not back the change of status for political reasons, pressure from the public and from various non-governmental organisations led Germany, Poland and Estonia to change their votes. As a result, the change of status was supported. The next step will be to make the corresponding amendments to the Bern Convention. Although this vote is not expected to bring about any changes in Latvia at present, it is nevertheless a substantial and significant step for many European Union countries, and in the long term the decision could also have a bearing on policy for the management of other large carnivores.
A victory for the Habitats Directive
The proposal to change the protection status arose after requests made over a number of years by many EU member states, backed over the past five years by four European Parliament resolutions. It has also been supported by the Committee of the Regions, which called for it as early as 2022 in its opinion "A long-term vision for rural areas".
In response to these requests, the European Commission launched a new phase of work in September 2023 to address the problems associated with the return of the wolf. The Commission invited local communities, scientists and other interested parties to submit up-to-date data on the wolf population and its impact.
Moving the wolf from Annex IV to Annex V does not call into question the legal obligations to conserve wolf populations: under Annex V, member states must still achieve and maintain favourable conservation status. Moreover, member states will always retain the freedom to take their own decisions, just as they do at present. Each member state can therefore implement the management measures best suited to its territory and its population.
A victory for the work of the institutions
The European Commission's proposal was received as a positive initiative to strike a balance between species conservation and species management.
A victory for the wolf population
Although the EU assessments do not apply to the current proposal under the Bern Convention, the EU proposal notes that the 2019 status assessment indicates that population size, habitat availability and the species' range show, on the whole, a stable or positive trend across all biogeographical regions, confirming that the species is continuing to recolonise parts of its natural range. Analysis carried out in 2023 confirms that the wolf population is continuing to expand in a positive direction.
Today's decision opens up the opportunity to use coexistence tools to ease the tensions and potential conflicts that have built up so far. Since many countries lack suitable measures for managing the wolf population, there is evidence of rising poaching and illegal poisoning of animals. The side effects are highly damaging to the environment; it is not only wolves that are poisoned, but also guard dogs, bears and birds and, worse still, river waters. The persistence of the poisons used is catastrophic. This trend is emerging in many member states; in Italy a specialised canine unit has been set up to combat such poaching.
The management of the problems caused by wolves must remain the responsibility of individual states, and they need a stable, long-lasting legal framework that is not challenged in court every time a local authority permits the management of individual animals.