Alpine lynx are making a comeback in the alpine regions of Slovenia and Croatia thanks to LIFE LYNX, a 7-year, €6.8 million project which carried off two top prizes at the recent LIFE Awards 2025. The project successfully translocated 18 lynx from Romania and Slovakia and established a viable breeding population which has so far produced more than 35 offspring.
Announcing the winner in the Nature & Biodiversity category, jury member Professor Hans Bruyninckx of the University of Antwerp noted, ‘LIFE LYNX is inspiring because it connects efforts across multiple locations, involves unlikely allies in nature protection, and speaks to the imagination.’
The project team tracked progress using camera traps and GPS collars attached to adult lynx. They also set up local consultative groups and established a ‘Young Lynx Guardians’ programme in local schools. ‘If you travel alone, you can go fast — but together you can travel far,’ said LIFE LYNX project coordinator Rok Černe. ‘Saving our lynx population took about 20 years and we joined forces with hunters, foresters, nature conservationists and ministries in five different countries with one goal — to save the lynx population.’
Getting farmers on board was crucial for success, so 14 electric fences were provided for farmers in Slovenia to protect their livestock, and 3 emergency fences erected in Italy. Ecotourism workshops and guided walks attracted more than 700 visitors — generating more than €13 600 in revenue — and 132 jobs worth €3.8 million were created over the course of the project. 170 conservation and tourism professionals attended educational seminars, and more than 8 600 people participated in project events — more than double the original estimate of 4 000.
In 2023, it was LIFE LYNX’s sister project LIFE Luchs Pfälzerwald which won the Nature & Biodiversity Award for its work reintroducing Eurasian lynxes in the Palatinate Forest Biosphere Reserve in southwest Germany. This year LIFE LYNX went one better, also winning the LIFE Citizens’ Prize presented by Paloma Aba Garrote, Director of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). ‘The Citizens’ Prize represents a unique and strong connection between our environmental efforts and EU citizens,’ she said. ‘It’s a strong reminder that citizens are not only recipients of environmental policy, but that they are the drivers of the green transition.’
LIFE projects in the Nature and Biodiversity Award support the EU Directives on birds, water and habitats, as well as the EU Nature Restoration Law and the European Green Deal
Details
- Publication date
- 19 June 2025
- Author
- European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
