📋 Tender Overview
The LIFE Lynx project, which aims to save the lynx population in Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, has won two prestigious LIFE 2025 awards. The expert committee awarded the project as the best in Europe in the category of nature protection and biodiversity, and the public also voted for the audience award.1 / 2 The awards were received by Gregor Danev, Director of the Slovenian Forest Service, and Rok Cerne, LIFE Lynx project coordinator. The commission, which has been awarding the awards for the 19th year in a row, recognizes the most innovative, inspiring and effective LIFE projects in three categories: nature protection and biodiversity, environment and climate action. The project convinced the expert committee primarily by the active involvement of stakeholders, especially hunters, in saving lynxes from extinction. In the seven years of the project, 18 lynxes were introduced to Slovenia and Croatia, and by the end of last year, more than 50 of their descendants had been recorded. In the Slovenian Alps, the introduced lynxes have established a connecting population, which is the first step towards the long-term conservation of lynxes in this part of Europe. The award comes at the right time, as we celebrate International Lynx Day on June 11th. It has been celebrated since 2018, at the initiative of the 3Lynx project, as lynxes are endangered in most of Europe and would have difficulty surviving without human help. The efforts of the LIFE Lynx project are presented in the short documentary film Together for Lynx, more information about the project is published on the LIFE Lynx website (in English). The LIFE Lynx project was co-financed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning. The project resulted in the draft Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) in Slovenia and the Action Plan for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) in Slovenia for the period 2024-2033. For this purpose, a Preparatory Group for the Revision of Strategic Documents for the Eurasian Lynx was formed, in which representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, the Slovenian Forest Service, the Slovenian Institute for Nature Conservation, the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana and the Hunting Association of Slovenia participated. The documents were adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in November 2024. On this occasion, the Slovenian Forest Service is organizing a meeting with the LIFE Lynx project team on the Risova pot in Kocevje, which will take place on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 4 p.m. at the Jelenovo studenc hut. Journalists and the general public are invited, as the project team will guide the participants along the learning trail after the meeting.
