Sharing landscapes with wildlife: Conflict and coexistence between high nature value pastoral systems and large carnivores
Abstract
High nature value (HNV) pastoral systems, that is those maintained by herding, transhumance and extensive grazing practices, are recognised as cornerstones of European biodiversity, cultural heritage and ecosystem service provision. Yet these systems are currently under significant pressure from a range of economic, social and environmental drivers. The recovery of large carnivore populations across Europe, while representing a major conservation success, constitutes an additional significant pressure. Pastoral systems are predominantly located in marginal and remote areas, maintained by the grazing of extensive livestock or reindeer, and are thus both at the frontline of carnivore recovery and most vulnerable to negative impacts, such as depredation. This Special Feature, bringing together 15 interdisciplinary contributions spanning pastoral and rangeland systems across Europe, the Americas, and Central and East Asia, is published at a critical juncture in European wildlife, nature restoration and agricultural policy, while also coinciding with the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralism. It aims to advance integrated and interdisciplinary knowledge of coexistence with carnivores in HNV pastoralist landscapes. This editorial discusses the joint challenges, solutions and research gaps highlighted by the contributions. Three primary and systemic drivers are identified as undermining pastoral resilience and associated coexistence capacity with large carnivores: the loss of mobility and common resources; unfavourable market and policy environments; and shifting social and institutional contexts. A central finding across contributions is that large carnivore impacts (including depredation) must not be treated as an isolated issue, but as one feature within this broader socio‐environmental context of challenges and drivers of vulnerability in pastoral landscapes. Alongside these pressures, the feature also highlights enabling conditions for coexistence, including place‐based approaches, co‐production of knowledge, participatory governance platforms, maintained local institutions and the meaningful integration of pastoralists' expertise. The feature concludes with calls for better coordination between agricultural and conservation policy, enhanced and holistic protection of pastoral systems' resilience, and for treating coexistence as an iterative, adaptive process requiring sustained institutional commitment and trusting relationships with local communities. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Related
- Pastoralist views and positions on coexistence with large carnivores. An overview from conflict areas across Europe
- Facial cleanliness, environmental factors, and the burden of trachoma in a pastoral conflict area of Tiaty East, Baringo County, Kenya
- Exploring Human‐Wildlife Coexistence Through the Lens of Value Pluralism Among Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs)
- Human-wildlife conflict shows shared spatial predictors across ecological and geographic contexts
- Beyond Terrestrial Carnivores: Olfactory Bulb Anatomy in a Semi-Aquatic Mammal
BibTeX
@article{marsden2026sharing,
title = {{Sharing landscapes with wildlife: Conflict and coexistence between high nature value pastoral systems and large carnivores}},
author = {Katrina Marsden and Hanna Pettersson and Tasos Hovardas and Ângela Lomba and Tobias Plieninger and Valeria Salvatori and Camilla Sandström and Juliette Young},
journal = {People and Nature},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1002/pan3.70366},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05662839v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Sharing landscapes with wildlife: Conflict and coexistence between high nature value pastoral systems and large carnivores
AU - Katrina Marsden
AU - Hanna Pettersson
AU - Tasos Hovardas
AU - Ângela Lomba
AU - Tobias Plieninger
AU - Valeria Salvatori
AU - Camilla Sandström
AU - Juliette Young
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/14
JO - People and Nature
DO - 10.1002/pan3.70366
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05662839v1
AB - High nature value (HNV) pastoral systems, that is those maintained by herding, transhumance and extensive grazing practices, are recognised as cornerstones of European biodiversity, cultural heritage and ecosystem service provision. Yet these systems are currently under significant pressure from a range of economic, social and environmental drivers. The recovery of large carnivore populations across Europe, while representing a major conservation success, constitutes an additional significant pressure. Pastoral systems are predominantly located in marginal and remote areas, maintained by the grazing of extensive livestock or reindeer, and are thus both at the frontline of carnivore recovery and most vulnerable to negative impacts, such as depredation. This Special Feature, bringing together 15 interdisciplinary contributions spanning pastoral and rangeland systems across Europe, the Americas, and Central and East Asia, is published at a critical juncture in European wildlife, nature restoration and agricultural policy, while also coinciding with the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralism. It aims to advance integrated and interdisciplinary knowledge of coexistence with carnivores in HNV pastoralist landscapes. This editorial discusses the joint challenges, solutions and research gaps highlighted by the contributions. Three primary and systemic drivers are identified as undermining pastoral resilience and associated coexistence capacity with large carnivores: the loss of mobility and common resources; unfavourable market and policy environments; and shifting social and institutional contexts. A central finding across contributions is that large carnivore impacts (including depredation) must not be treated as an isolated issue, but as one feature within this broader socio‐environmental context of challenges and drivers of vulnerability in pastoral landscapes. Alongside these pressures, the feature also highlights enabling conditions for coexistence, including place‐based approaches, co‐production of knowledge, participatory governance platforms, maintained local institutions and the meaningful integration of pastoralists' expertise. The feature concludes with calls for better coordination between agricultural and conservation policy, enhanced and holistic protection of pastoral systems' resilience, and for treating coexistence as an iterative, adaptive process requiring sustained institutional commitment and trusting relationships with local communities. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
SN - 2575-8314
ER -