Use of European Funds and Ex Post Evaluation of Prevention Measures against Wolf Attacks (Canis lupus italicus) in the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy)

Introduction: Compensation programs are an important tool for mitigating conflicts between farmers and large predators. However, they present significant weaknesses and faults. For years, the EU has been prioritizing programs for the prevention of damage caused by large carnivores, rather than compensation programs, introducing compulsory compensation for the purposes of decision EC (2019) 772 of 29/01/19. This manuscript reports the experience with the wolf damage prevention programs in an Italian region, Emilia-Romagna, which implemented a pilot project, adopting a new method to interface with the farmers involved in the prevention programs. Methods: Starting in 2014, a project aimed at spreading prevention measures was financed through regional and European resources, accompanied by resources sharing and technical assistance with breeders from the regional body. In detail, (i) standardized types of intervention were defined and technical assistance was structured; (ii) ex post, the effectiveness of the interventions carried out was assessed; and (iii) the difficulties encountered in using the various financing instruments were analyzed. Results: Overall, 298 farms were analyzed, of which 166 applied for regional calls and 132 applied for European funds. The mitigation measures produced a reduction in predatory phenomena of 93.4%, i.e., from 528 to 35 predations over a period of 4–6 years. This study shows that more than one-third of the farmers were forced to abandon the two tenders, mainly due to the lack of liquidity in anticipating the prevention measures. Conclusion: In the years examined by this study, the prevention programs in the Emilia-Romagna region, due to the technical support offered, proved to be a functional and effective tool, capable of significantly reducing the wolf predation on livestock. However, this work highlights the high percentage of denials of mitigation measures by farmers interested in adopting these tools, stressing the need for regional agencies to focus on new policies that can provide advance economic resources to farmers and solve the authorization problems related to the various bodies with which the participant in the tenders must interface.