From 15 to 16 december a conference on “Providing a knowledge basis for sustainable hunting and biodiversity conservation. Streamlining hunting bag statistics in the EU” will take place in Uppsala, Sweden. The conference is organised by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management and held in association with the Swedish EU Presidency.

 

The conference aims at proposing further actions to provide policy-makers and stakeholders the necessary information needed for managing huntable species (game) in a European context with regard to e.g. the following aspects:

 

• Evaluation of game resources as part of assessment of ecosystem goods and services;

• Identify and monitor threats to game populations and biodiversity;

• Methods for long term monitoring of game species at different scales and the financing of such systems.

• Sustainable management of huntable species in line with EU nature legislation (e.g. Birds Directive), policies for rural development and as a resource for hunting and recreation.

 

This conference will be a timely opportunity to take stock of the efforts to evaluate and promote better communication of European bag statistics so far and agree on measures necessary to further this development. The wider policy needs to address threats to wildlife will require integration with information from other monitoring programmes. The Conference is expected to present conclusions assessing progress so far and, as necessary, to recommend further actions comprising e.g. organisational aspects, funding, communication and awareness raising, research and technical cooperation.