Opening of the 2023 call for projects of the Human - Wildlife Initiative in France

Natural areas host many economic and recreational activities that can interact with wildlife.  Good cohabitation between humans and wildlife requires a harmonious sharing of the territory and resources, so that biodiversity can flourish while allowing the smooth running of human activities. This issue of coexistence also arises in the southern PACA region, which, due to its specific geographical and climatic characteristics, has a great diversity of environments and species.

This wealth of fauna in a territory with numerous human activities implies diverse interactions.

The Human–Wildlife Initiative (IHF) was launched in 2020 with the creation of its Steering Committee made up of the French National Council for the Protection of Nature, the Alpes-Maritimes Chamber of Agriculture, the Alpes-Maritimes Hunting Federation and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Bird Protection League.

This initiative is focused on several species of wildlife found in rural and mountain areas: wolves, cervids, wild boars, chamois, bighorn sheep, ibexes, foxes, mustelids, avifauna, chiropterans, rodents.

 

The initiative makes it possible to help stakeholders in the South Region – PACA to develop specific projects that will improve the social acceptability and management of relationships between wildlife and human activities (agriculture, tourism, hunting, environmental management). 

 

For example:

• Adaptation of farming practices to cohabit with wildlife
• Actions focused on the compatibility of outdoor sports and wildlife
• Development of communications tools to promote agrotourism that showcases • wildlife
• Study and monitoring of wildlife populations
• Events for schools and/or the general public, meetings with rural stakeholders

 

The 4th call for projects is open from the 25th of september to the 31st of october 2023.

 

The selected projects, which will be able to start from the second trimester of 2024, must concern :

• Field actions aimed at preventing or mitigating conflicts between wildlife and human activities ;
• Actions to improve the knowledge of species in a situation where they share territory with humans ;
• Actions to raise awareness among the general public and schoolchildren on the challenges of living with wildlife ;
• Actions to enhance the value of agricultural production and cultural, sporting or ecotourism activities related to wildlife.

 

Eligibility criteria :

 

The steering committee will select projects that meet several criterias :

·        Projects must clearly benefit the peaceful cohabitation of humans and wildlife ;

·        Projects should concern the above-mentioned animal species;

·       Projects should be located in the southern PACA region ;

·       Projects must be at least 20% self-financing

·       Projects must not result in the infringement of wildlife conservation rules.

 

Two levels of support are possible :

·   Support up to 10 000€ for projects with a maximum total budget of 50.000€ and a duration of 2 years maximum : application form n°1 (AF1)

·   Support ranging from 50 000€ to 70 000€ for projects with a maximum total budget of 300.000€ and a duration of 3 years maximum : application form n°2 (AF2)

Instructions for downloading the file : 

Click on the following google drive link (also available in the "Projects" tab, on the top right of this page)
Select the application file n°1 (AF1) or or the application file n°2 (AF2) and the Budget table

• To download → Right click on the document → Download

 

Attention : You have to download the documents to fill them, it is not possible to fill them online

 

The application file must be sent before the 31st of October 2023 to the following email address: ihf@fpa2.org.