On the 2nd of March the first coordination meeting of LIFE LYNXCONNECT was held between Fundación Artemisan, the Technical Office of the project, the General Directorate of Natural Environment and the Hunting Federation of the Region of Murcia,

Coordination between the LIFE LYNXCONNECT partners is essential to achieve the project’s objectives. Especially in the Region of Murcia, a community that after its experience in the previous LIFE Iberlince in the selection of reintroduction areas within this territory, will receive the first releases of the feline from 2023.

For this reason, and with the aim of laying the foundations for a communication and awareness-raising strategy to facilitate the acceptance of the Iberian lynx among the hunting sector in Murcia, with hunters, managers and landowners being a fundamental element for the conservation of the species, given that the majority of its populations reside in hunting reserves and private estates, the first coordination meeting between the project partners that will participate directly or indirectly in the region was held on Wednesday 2 March.

Thus, the telematic meeting brought together representatives of the hunting sector in LIFE LYNXCONNECT, Fundación Artemisan, the Directorate General for the Natural Environment of the Region of Murcia, the head of communication of the Technical Office of the project, and the president of the Hunting Federation of Murcia, an organisation that will play an important role in the development of the project in the area.

During the meeting, the Artemisan Foundation explained to the participants the strategy that is going to be developed from the hunting field to facilitate the intermediation with hunters and managers. They also laid the foundations for a line of cooperation and communication aimed at contributing to the acceptance and conservation of the feline in Murcia.

For its part, the Murcia Hunting Federation has requested that the organisation be taken into account in all decisions involving the hunting sector and has expressed its willingness to collaborate actively in the different actions of LYNXCONNECT in the region.

At this point, the participants agreed on the importance of involving the hunting sector in the Iberian lynx conservation strategy, recalling success stories such as those of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalusia, where the participation of hunters and managers has been key to the recovery of the species.