DESIGN AND ORGANIZATION OF A TRANSBOUNDARY MONITORING SYSTEM (TMS) FOR THE PRESPA PARK Pilot Application of the Transboundary Monitoring System for the Prespa Park: Brown Bear Monitoring Final Report Prepared by L. Krambokoukis and K. Hornigold Arcturos © Society for the Protection of Prespa – Arcturos Agios Germanos, December 2011 Pilot Application of the Transboundary Monitoring System for the Prespa Park: Brown Bear Monitoring Report prepared by International Lead Experts, Lambros Krambokoukis and Karen Hornigold, Arcturos NGO, Greece Acknowledgments: This report and the Brown Bear survey would not have been possible without the work of the staff of Galicica National Park in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the staff of the Management Body of the Prespa National Park in Greece, who carried out the questionnaire surveys in their areas of jurisdiction. Special thanks go to Oliver Avramoski and the Galicica National Park staff for helping organize and for hosting the Workshop on Brown Bear Monitoring, which took place in the Galicica National Park premises in Stenje, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 12 October 2010. Experts from the three countries are thanked for their interest and their willing participation in the workshop. TMS Project Coordinator: Miltos Gletsos, Society for the Protection of Prespa This report is part of the project “Design and Organization of a Transboundary Monitoring System (TMS) for the Prespa Park”. The project is implemented by the Society for the Protection of Prespa and funded by WWF- Greece/ MAVA Foundation. Suggested bibliographical reference: L. Krambokoukis and K. Hornigold (2011). Pilot Application of the Transboundary Monitoring System for the Prespa Park: Brown Bear Monitoring, Final report, Society for the Protection of Prespa – Arcturos NGO, Agios Germanos Cover photo: Arcturos SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF PRESPA – ARCTUROS NGO Pilot Application of the Prespa TMS: Brown Bear Monitoring Pilot Application of the Transboundary Monitoring System for the Prespa Park: Workshop on Brown Bear Monitoring and Questionnaire Survey Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4 2 Method .................................................................................................................. 4 3 Results .................................................................................................................. 6 3.1 Greek Prespa National Park ............................................................................... 6 3.1.1 Bear Presence ........................................................................................... 6 3.1.2 Bear Damages .......................................................................................... 6 3.2 National Parks in FYROM part of Prespa ............................................................. 8 3.2.1 Bear Presence ........................................................................................... 8 3.2.2 Bear Damages .......................................................................................... 8 4 Discussion ............................................................................................................10 5 References ............................................................................................................. 7 Appendix 1 . Workshop: list of participants, brief minutes, agenda ...................................11 Appendix 2. Questionnaire used across all National Parks in Prespa region. .......................15 Appendix 3. Blank data entry sheet ...............................................................................17 Appendix 4. Guidelines for interviewers (to accompany questionnaire)..............................18 Appendix 5. Sample sizes per village, per National Park ...................................................19 3 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF PRESPA – ARCTUROS NGO Pilot Application of the Prespa TMS: Brown Bear Monitoring 1 Introduction Prespa is an area of incredible natural beauty and biodiversity, which covers regions in three countries, Albania, Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and was declared as a Transboundary Park in 2000. It has international recognition for its importance for wildlife and nature, being classified as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention and designated as a special protection area under the EU Birds Directive. Due to its international importance for nature conservation and the fact that it is present across three neighbouring countries, it is necessary to form partnerships and collaborations between these three countries for the greater benefit of the area. For this reason a Transboundary Monitoring System (TMS) for the monitoring of environmental parameters in the Prespa Park is being designed and developed by the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) since 2007 with funding from WWF-Greece. This is implemented in coordination with a concurrent GEF/UNDP Prespa Park Project which also funds consultations and purchase of equipment for certain monitoring activities, and in consultation with national experts, monitoring institutions and authorities from the three countries. In 2008-2009 a Expert Study describing in detail the TMS and covering seven environmental monitoring themes1 was developed by Tour du Valat (France) and SPP, with the contribution of national monitoring experts from the three countries. In 2010-2011 the pilot application of the TMS was implemented, with pilot testing, workshops, demonstrations and networking activities in the seven monitoring themes, coordinated by SPP and with funding by WWF-Greece. Within this pilot application, pilot monitoring of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the whole of the transborder Prespa region was implemented in the period 2010-2011. The partners included the Society for the Protection of Prespa and the Prespa National Park Management Body in Greece, the National Parks of Galicica and Pelister in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Prespa National Park in Albania. Other collaborators included ARCTUROS NGO from Greece and the Macedonian Ecological Society from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for specialist advice on bear research (see Appendix 1 for a complete list with contact details). 2 Method Methodology was discussed and agreed upon at the Workshop entitled ‘Transboundary Monitoring System for the Prespa Park: Workshop on Brown Bear pilot monitoring’ which was held in Stenje on 12 October 2010. (The list of participants and the brief minutes of the Workshop are available in Appendix 1) ARCTUROS NGO provided an existing questionnaire which is derived from the TMS Expert Study (Perennou et al 2009, Annex 11.1). The questionnaire aimed at monitoring bears and gathering information on damages/conflicts 1 The seven monitoring themes of the TMS are: water resources; aquatic vegetation and habitats; forests and terrestrial habitats; fish and fisheries; birds other biodiversity; socio-economics; land-use. Brown Bear monitoring is included in the ‘birds and other biodiversity’ theme. 4 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF PRESPA – ARCTUROS NGO Pilot Application of the Prespa TMS: Brown Bear Monitoring through questioning locals. This was adapted and modified according to the needs of this specific pilot project with the feedback that was provided at the workshop by the experts present. The final questionnaire is presented in Appendix 2. An excel spreadsheet was also provided to ensure data entry in a standard way (see Appendix 3). Also at the workshop, it was decided to include a list of guidelines for the interviewers, in order to ensure standardisation across all National Parks as this was a transboundary project involving many parties. These guidelines are presented in Appendix 4. A preliminary sample size was calculated according to the total number of residents in the respective areas of Albania, Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A percentage of residents per village to interview for each of the three National Parks in the three countries was calculated (see Appendix 5). In order to keep the total sample size at around 100 questionnaires per National Park, a different percentage was used for each National Park, specifically 6% of residents per village in the Greek Prespa National Park, 2% in the Albanian National Park (which has much larger settlements in the area), and 5% and 6 % for the two National Parks in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Pelister National Park and Galicica National Park respectively). The documents listed in Appendices 2-5 were sent to the coordinators in each country and were translated and disseminated to the personnel responsible for carrying out the questionnaires. Each participating National Park then carried out the questionnaires in their region. 5 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF PRESPA – ARCTUROS NGO Pilot Application of the Prespa TMS: Brown Bear Monitoring 3 Results Finally a total of 55 questionnaires were completed in Galicica National Park, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, covering both the Prespa and Ohrid basins, between the period of December 2010 to January 2011. In the Greek Prespa National Park, 95 questionnaires were completed from November 2010 to June 2011. There are no results thus far from the Albanian National Park, due to the key partners being replaced. The results for the two countries / National Parks are