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LATEST NEWS

LEADERS OF EUROPEAN HUNTERS MEET IN GREECE

Athens, 31 March 2012 - Representatives of the hunting world from 22 countries gathered in Athens, Greece for the 2012 FACE Members’ Meeting. Hosted by the Hellenic Hunters’ Confederation and their President Nicolas Papadodimas, the Members’ Meeting focuses on EU policy implementation and enhances exchange between FACE Members. The 2 day meeting covered a range of topics impacting on hunting in Europe. Read the Press Summary - Read the Athens Declaration - See the photos

CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES)

One year to go to CITES COP16: March 3 marked one year to go to the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held 3-15 March 2013 in Thailand. Read more.

Safari Club International’s Convention: The Safari Club International (SCI) Convention, held this year from the 1-4 February in Las Vegas, USA, is almost certainly the biggest hunting convention in the world. Read more.

Publication of new EU CITES Annexes: On 11 February 2012, an updated version of the Annexes to the EU wildlife trade regulation, 338/97, was published in the Official Journal of the EU. Read more.

HUNTING IN TURKEY- Antalya in Turkey was the venue for the first FACE Board Meeting of 2012, which was superbly hosted by the Turkish Shooting & Hunting Federation (Türkiye Aticilik ve Avcilik Federasyonu,TAF). The meeting included a presentation by TAF which showed the immense biogeographical diversity of the country and allowed participants to gain an insight into the hunting systems and culture in Turkey. Read more.

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF CORMORANTS - Following FACE’s Cy Griffin’s participation in the stakeholder group meetings under the EU project ‘Sustainable Management of Cormorant Populations’ the Directorate-General for the Environment under the European Commission has announced the new EU Cormorant Platform:
This follows FACE’s efforts in 2008, urging the Commission to give clearer guidelines to Member States on how best to regulate cormorant populations and address issues related to economic and ecological pressures caused by cormorants.

WOLVES IN THE EU - The conservation and coexistence of large carnivores and humans is a challenge in Europe, because only a few European areas are able to accommodate the home ranges of large carnivores. As a result their presence in multi-use landscapes leads to a number of conflicts with human interests. Recently there has been an increased focus on wolf management in Europe as this species has showed an increased adaptability to expand into these multi-use landscapes. At the same time this expansion has forced an increased polarisation between rural and urban people and conservationists vs protectionists.
FACE Experts from the national hunting and conservation associations of 6 EU Member States involved in managing wolves, met informally with EU Environment Commissioner Potocnik in Brussels to discuss the management of large carnivores in Europe. Read more.

115 YEARS FOR THE SERBIAN HUNTERS ASSOCIATION - The Serbian Hunters Association celebrated 115 years of hunting and conservation at a ceremony held in Belgrade this November. This celebration further underlines the fact that hunting associations are amongst the oldest conservation NGOs in Europe. Last year, the Slovakian Hunters Association celebrated 90 years, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation were established over a century ago in 1908 and the Swedish Hunters Jägareförbundet has been active since 1830. Read more.

GLOBAL FLYWAY CONSERVATION: COOPERATION IS KEY
Seosan in South Korea was the venue for the first global flyways meeting, which brought together flyway conservation experts from around the world to discuss the main issues facing migratory birds. The hunting community was represented by FACE’s Angus Middleton, who presented some of what hunters in Europe have been doing for Flyway Conservation. READ MORE.

GREEK & SPANISH HUNTERS: 2 APPROACHES FOR PROTECTING WILDLIFE - As reported on in last month’s newsletter, September 2011 marked the joint XXXth IUGB Congress and Perdix XIII in Barcelona which focused on the theme of Human-wildlife conflicts and peace-building strategies, together with dedicated sessions on the latest research on partridges and quail.
The quality of the programme makes it a difficult task to pick highlights, but read on for two of our favourites!

NEW: ATLAS OF DUCK POPULATIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE

OMPO (Migratory Birds of the Western Palearctic – European Institute for the Management of Wild Birds and their Habitats) have produced an Atlas of Duck Populations in Eastern Europe. It covers the latest population data and ecology of 11 species of ducks from the genera Anas and Aythya from six countries of Eastern Europe (European Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine). >Read more.

NATURALLIANCE: THE PORTAL FOR NATURE - Naturalliance, a new web-portal to help everyone whose work or recreation depends on nature has just launched. >Read more

ILLEGAL KILLING IS NOT HUNTING - A strong resolution of Conclusions & Recommendations has been released by the European hunting community at the Council of Europe Conference on the Illegal Killing of Birds held in Cyprus from 6-8 July. >Read more.