The project has focused on improving the knowledge and appreciation of the Natura 2000 Network, as well as the brown bear in small threatened bear areas to promote behavioural changes and promote the creation of governance structures that contribute to better and more participatory conservation.

After several months of work, the LIFE Natura2000+Bear Project “Living in the Natura 2000 Network, living with bears in two small and threatened subpopulations”, which has been carried out by the Brown Bear Foundation and has had the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, has come to an end.

It has been developed in 62 municipalities in five autonomous communities , including the following; Asturias, Castilla y León, Cantabria, Navarra and Aragon and in two very different territorial areas, on the one hand the Cantabrian Mountains and on the other hand the Pyrenees, also affecting 33 protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network.

This LIFE project has focused on improving the knowledge and appreciation of the Natura 2000 Network, as well as the brown bear in small threatened bear areas to promote behavioural changes and promote the creation of governance structures that contribute to better and more participatory conservation. To this end, among other actions, 5 working groups have been set up in order to promote the active participation of the sectors involved in the management and conservation of these areas.

Within the framework of the initiative, work has also been done to inform, communicate and raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities of living in the Natura 2000 Network and in bear territories through the realization of different activities, including meetings, dynamic workshops and different activities aimed at different interested social sectors and progressively at more generic audiences. In addition, awareness-raising and dissemination actions have been promoted in different local and regional media, as well as in the distribution of different informative materials. Likewise, a traveling exhibition has also been installed in 9 locations in 5 different provinces.

During its execution, the initiative has had the participation of 287 people in 13 thematic workshops in 5 provinces; among them Navarra, León, Palencia, Asturias and Huesca. These meetings focused on deepening knowledge and appreciation of these areas as territories that are part of the Natura 2000 Network and on the compatibility of their activities with the conservation of these spaces and the brown bear.

4 meetings have also been held organized through trips to the Somiedo Natural Park in Asturias, with the participation of a total of 85 social agents. In addition, 108 dynamization days have been held, 76 in the Cantabrian Mountains and 32 in the Pyrenees, reaching a total of 5,403 participants, of which 1,508 attended talks aimed directly at local associations within the scope of the project and 2,486 were schoolchildren. Likewise, 204 people participated in mountain routes, 1,205 participants in sporting events and tens of thousands of visitors attended thematic fairs.