News & Events

The publication, which covers June 2014 – October 2015, outlines the background and key activities of FACE’s working areas: nature conservation, wildlife conservation, International agreements, animal welfare & health, firearms & ammunition, and hunting methods & culture. One of the most testing challenges that the FACE Annual Report 2015 refers to is the Fitness Check of the Nature Directives, a process carried out by the European Commission aimed at assessing whether or not the Birds and Habitats Directives are fit for...

30 September, 2016 /

In addition to the direct economic contribution (16 Billion Euros), hunters’ voluntary work to protect and manage species and habitats also contributes to the development of Europe’s rural areas by providing employment, increasing the social fabric of rural communities, and transmitting cultural identity and traditions. During the conference “The Economic Value of Hunting in the EU” held on 27th September 2016 at the European Parliament, FACE explained that hunting is worth 16 billion Euros for the European economy. Europe’s 7 million...

29 September, 2016 /

This manual, which is now available on the FAO website, provides both technical and operational guidance on approaches and practices adopted by countries where regulated or sport hunting is conducted. The aim is to join forces to sustainably manage wildlife, notably by deriving benefits from wildlife to support rural livelihoods, and contribute to food security and national/local economies The social and economic benefits derived from sustainable use, including revenues from trophy hunting, provides sustainable incentives for local people to conserve wildlife....

20 September, 2016 /

Brenne Regional Natural Park, managed by the Indre Department, contains 3000 artificial ponds, which have been created since the Middle Age for fish farming. Due to its natural richness, most of this wetland area is designated under Ramsar and the Natura 2000 Network In 1993, the Wildlife Habitats Foundation bought 200 hectares of this site and, with the help of the Indre Federation of Hunters, acts to safeguard the habitat threatened by agricultural abandonment, but also to promote biodiversity and raise...

19 September, 2016 /

For the past six months, FACE and its Members worked tirelessly on an IUCN motion, which was originally designed to ban all lead ammunition over all habitats, including for Olympic clay shooting disciplines. Last week, the motion was put to the floor of the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) in Hawaii (1-10 September 2016). Prior to the vote at the IUCN WCC, there were three intense meetings with a range of IUCN State, Government and NGO Members. The FACE position was to keep...

15 September, 2016 /

The conference, organized by MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz, President of the Hunting Intergroup and MEP Renata Briano, Vice-President, in cooperation with FACE, will take place on 27th September at the European Parliament. Jyrki Katainen, Vice President of the European Commission, will participate with a keynote. Hunting is a popular activity throughout Europe and plays an important conservation, economic and cultural role within society. During this European Parliament Intergroup “Biodiversity, Hunting, Countryside” Conference, we will explore the various economic dimensions of hunting in...

08 September, 2016 /

Should sustainable lion and elephant hunting be restricted or banned? Or should the world community better build on the success stories of legal hunting as a tool for wildlife conservation and poverty reduction? These and many other issues are up for discussion when the world’s largest wildlife trade summit is to be held from 24 September to 5 October in Johannesburg, South Africa. CITES, which stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, has...

06 September, 2016 /

FACE is putting a special focus on women hunters to learn more about their motivations, challenges and views. Here’s a snapshot from Esperanza Vielva in Spain. Esperanza Vielva, 26, discovered hunting only six years ago, in 2010. She has since become passionate about hunting dogs and everything else related to hunting. She states: “Since my first contact with hunting, I must say that I got hooked because of the nerves and the emotion of the activity”. Esperanza studied Law in Madrid but...

26 August, 2016 /

“A vote in the IMCO Committee of the European Parliament just confirmed that the legal users of firearms should not suffer constraints in the practice of hunting and sport shooting. Since the wave of terrorist attacks starting with the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January 2015 the European Commission and the European Council initiated a campaign in name of the fight against terrorism and organized crime, but aimed at the wrong target by proposing measures that only impacted hunters and sport...

23 August, 2016 /

There are many alien (non-native) species in Europe, which can be very useful (such as the beloved potato), however, 10-15% of these alien species are considered “invasive”. Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are often referred to as species of non-native animals or plants, which generate serious negative effects on the environment, economy or even human health. For many decades, much attention has been paid to this problem at EU level with the publication of strategies, codes of conduct and new Regulations to...

17 August, 2016 /

Wetlands provide countless benefits or “ecosystem services”, which range from supplying freshwater, food and biodiversity, to flood control, groundwater recharge, and climate change mitigation. Throughout Europe, wetlands continue to decline in area and quantity despite numerous policy and legal targets to halt their decline[1]. The main causes of wetland loss include land use change to forestry and agriculture, urbanisation, invasive alien species and climate change. Hunting and wetland conservation Of the 208 projects currently listed in the FACE Biodiversity Manifesto, 90 are active...

05 August, 2016 /

The latest national survey conducted in the Republic of Ireland suggested that Irish Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus hibernicus) suffered a 70% decline in 40 years to a population of roughly 4,200 birds. While many projects were initiated in response to this, the Boleybrack Mountain Red Grouse Project stands out as a best case example. Glenfarne Gun Club began a habitat management program to increase the red grouse population on neighbouring Boleybrack Mountain Special Area of Conservation. In doing so, Glenfarne Gun Club...

04 August, 2016 /

FACE is delighted to announce the publication of the AEWA Guidelines on Sustainable Harvest of Migratory Waterbirds. This updated report provides detailed guidance on ways of ensuring and managing sustainable harvests of waterbirds in the AEWA region. This work was developed by leading experts, including FACE staff, from within the Waterbird Harvest Specialist Group of Wetlands International. Going forward, these Guidelines have the potential to support exciting new initiatives towards ensuring cross-border waterbird conservation and management. Read the report here....

03 August, 2016 /

The first “Union list” of 37 species consisting of 23 animals and 14 plants comes into force, following the recent publication (in July 2016) of Commission Implementing Regulation (2016/1141). The “Union list” comprises species considered to have potential adverse impacts across the European Union. FACE Members will recall the initial Regulation on Invasive Alien Species (1143/2014), which came into force on 1 January 2015. This Regulation sets out the restrictions and measures that will now apply to the species on the...

02 August, 2016 /

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which is a highly contagious and deadly animal brain disorder, was recently detected in a wild reindeer and in two wild moose in Norway. This is the first time in history that CWD cases were detected on the European territory. The presence of CWD in Europe represents a major concern for European hunters and many other stakeholders. While there is no indication of how this disease was introduced into Norway, the European Commission (EC) recently requested FACE...

01 August, 2016 /

At the meeting, Government representatives and a range of other stakeholders worked on developing a comprehensive programme of work for the Task Force until 2020. The MIKT adopts a zero tolerance approach to illegal killing, trapping and trade of migratory birds (IKB). For this to be successful, it requires the full and proactive support at national level of all stakeholders. FACE has a long-standing zero tolerance policy on wildlife crime including illegal killing, as it is simply not hunting. Dr. David...

18 July, 2016 /

The vote of the IMCO Committee took into account the concerns brought forward by FACE and considerably improved the proposal of the European Commission giving a clear mandate to the European Parliament in the upcoming negotiations with the Commission and the Council. The European Parliament - IMCO Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection - voted today on the revision of Directive 91/477 CEE on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons, adopting the text that will be part...

14 July, 2016 /

Spanish and Portuguese hunters participated in the successful project LIFE+IBERLINCE, which has tripled the number of Iberian lynx in only one decade from less than 100 individuals in 2002 to more than 400 in 2015. LIFE+Iberlince has been running from 2011, and will finish in 2017; there have also been three other previous Life projects since 2002. The current project, “Recovery of the historical distribution of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and Portugal”, was set up by the...

13 July, 2016 /

This morning MEPs expressed support for the EU’s proposal to have international guidelines on trade and traceability in hunting trophies. At the same time they rejected a proposal to call for a ban on trophy hunting and to ban the sale of hunting trophies. The European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) adopted a draft resolution on the EU’s strategic objectives for a major international conference on global wildlife trade, which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 24 September to 5...

12 July, 2016 /

FACE is putting a special focus on women hunters to learn more about their motivations, challenges and views. Here’s a snapshot from Lucía Rubio in Spain. Lucía Rubio is a 23 passionate hunter from Madrid. She began hunting at the early age of 3, when her father and grandmother took her game hunting. Besides her love of hunting, she works for a TV channel specialised in hunting, where she films and produces documentaries around the world: “I’m very lucky, thanks to...

11 July, 2016 /

The European Commission has made public its expert study: Evaluation Study to Support the Fitness Check of the Birds and Habitats Directives. The study, which was completed in March 2016, was only made public yesterday due to an official access to document request made by the WWF The report was prepared by a group of experts led by Milieu Ltd. on the request of the European Commission in the framework of its “Fitness Check” of the Birds and Habitats Directives. In...

09 July, 2016 /

The development of the revised Strategic Plan for the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) for the period 2019 – 2027 was formally launched at the meeting of the AEWA Strategic Plan Working Group in Bonn on the 28-30 June 2016. FACE was represented by Dr. David Scallan. The meeting brought together a wide range of AEWA stakeholders, including designated representatives from Contracting Parties, members of both the Standing and Technical Committees as well as a number of key AEWA partner organizations. Aside...

07 July, 2016 /

FACE is pleased to announce that an agreement was reached to establish a European Goose Management Platform under AEWA. The meeting, which took place in Paris on the 11-12 May 2016, was attended by the following AEWA range states: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and UK. The meeting was hosted and organised by the French Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea as well as OMPO and represents a major turning point in the way...

01 June, 2016 /

Hunters team up with public bodies responsible for state forestry services in Poland in order to preserve the country’s capercaillie population. In the provinces of Dolnoslaskie in Poland’s South-East, and Podlaskie in the North-West, populations of capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), the largest member of the Grouse family, are in decline. At the beginning of the 20th century there were more than 3000 capercaillies living in Poland, however recent population estimates put the current figure at 350-450 individuals. Shrinking populations of...

04 May, 2016 /

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published a paper titled ‘Informing decisions on trophy hunting - A Briefing Paper for European Union Decision-makers regarding potential plans for restriction of imports of hunting trophies’. This publication draws on a set of case studies to highlight that while there is considerable poor practice in trophy hunting and a strong need for reform, well managed trophy hunting can - and does - positively contribute to conservation and local livelihoods in...

19 April, 2016 /
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