WEI

INTRODUCTION

Sustainable Hunting is a traditional way of both regulating and enhancing natural resources. It has a concrete and positive influence on animal and plant species as well as on ecosystems.

Wildlife estates management is also one of the many uses of Natura 2000 sites. It is of noteable economic significance to many rural communities.

Wildlife estate’s managers and hunters have a deep interest in sustaining wildlife habitats and sites and they should thus be seen as “solution providers” for protecting and enhancing biodiversity. This needs to be communicated to the society, which too often tends to misunderstand the vital function of these managers.

FUNCTIONING

Every year in September, since 2005, the Plenary Session of the Wildlife Estates initiative is organised. During the months preceding the meeting, the work of the plenary session is prepared by a Working Group / Evaluation Committee.

The next WG/EC of the Wildlife Estates initiative will take place in Finland (Helsinki) the next 12^th and 13^th of March.

The next Plenary Session will probably take place in September 2009, the location has to be confirmed.

OBJECTIVES

The Wildlife Estates initiative aims at establishing a network of estates classified according 5 families of territories in function of the biogeographical zones as set out by the European Union. They will respect simple principles of good management and conservation of wildlife estates all over Europe that will adapt according to the different hunting management in the various regions of the EU.

There are 10 principles of wildlife estate management included in the charter Wildlife Estates. The charter was endorsed during the Copenhagen Conference (DK) in September 2006. All participants had to agree to respect the principles of the Charter as the first step.

THE WILDLIFE ESTATES LABEL

The Wildlife Estate Label creates a system which aims to ensure and demonstrates that the management and use of natural resources on estates complies with biodiversity and nature conservation principles.

There is no rigid certification system, but a voluntary commitment to the Charter and questionnaire’s requirements. To receive the label, applicants should send their application form taking the form of a questionnaire to the WE liaison office based in Brussels.

Sustainable hunting and/or angling involve habitat and wildlife management actions. These actions have to be assessed and scored accordingly, in terms of their promotion of nature conservation as a whole.

To receive the WE label, an estate or territory must fulfil all eligibility and generic criteria and obtain a minimum total score, considering specific indicators assessed with an evaluation grid based on biogeographical region.

The questionnaire is available here.

Atlantic and continental

Mediterranean

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The Wildlife Estates initiative gathers a variety of information falling within the scope of DG Environment. The Wildlife Estates represent a considerable potential for society, namely as regards the visibility given to the public: “window effect”. These estates raise people’s awareness of the quality of the wildlife population and the necessity of its management. They also show that landowners are above all wildlife, flora and fauna producers.

The Wildlife Estates initiative clearly brings obviously some added value, not only in terms of environmental protection, but also in terms of socioeconomic aspects. It is a diversification of revenue sources for the rural world through the creation of an economy around wildlife products, such as hunting, bird watching, gastronomy, and also landscape, fauna and flora conservation.