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LIFE Bear-smart runners

LIFE Bear-Smart Corridors is a European Union-funded project that aims to facilitate the expansion of the Marsican brown bear in the central Apennines and the European brown bear in Greece by improving the conditions for human-bear coexistence in bear presence areas and ecological corridors, which are essential to the movement of the species into new areas.

The project, coordinated by the Rewilding Europe organization, involves 12 partners: Rewilding Apennines, Salviamo l’Orso, the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, the Municipality of Pettorano sul Gizio, the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park and the Sirente Velino Regional Park are the Italian beneficiaries of the project.
The Greek partners are the Callisto and Arcturos associations, the Kenakap territorial promotion organization, the University of Thessaly and the Municipality of Amyntaio. The actions of the project are a summary of many of the actions that Salviamo l’Orso has been carrying out for years on a larger scale, and with a synergistic effort between municipalities, agencies and associations.

Duration

The project has a five-year duration, from 2021 to 2026, and is the first step in the direction of a coordinated and collective effort to protect bears and coexistence in the central Apennines.

The role of volunteers

The project involves Salviamo l’Orso volunteers in all field actions. The ‘installation of the electrified fencing and bear-proof bins, well closures, pruning and monitoring will be done in the corridor areas precisely because of the work of our volunteers.