A conference about people and bears, about coexistence.

The goal of the conference is to bring together the diverse views, skills and experiences of invited experts to contribute science-based proposals to improve the quality of people-bear coexistence as part of future urban and national policies. It will also contribute to the assessment of the current scientific situation of the brown bear population in Romania and to raising awareness of the gaps in people-bear coexistence, for the benefit of the local community. There is a clear intention to create a tradition, involve young people in scientific activity and provide a platform for national and foreign researchers to present their results.

Program of the Event:
21-22.10.2025: IV.TusnadEcoBearConf Conference

Sessions:
1. Carnivore Conservation in Multi-Use Landscapes
2. Carnivore Ecology in a Changing World: Climate and Habitat Challenges
3. Hunting, Population Management and Conservation: Balancing Ethics & Management Needs
4. Local Community and Local Economy Roles in Carnivore Conservation
5. Camera Traps, AI and Drones: The Future of Carnivore Research & Conflict Prevention

22.10.25: Panel – Can Humans and Large Carnivores share a Cultural Landscape?
23.10.25: Field trip & on-site Workshop:
Location: Mohos Peat Bog – Lake Saint Anne Natura 2000 site (ROSCI0248) –
Field trip topic: Tourism and human-bear conflicts
Workshop topic:  Knowledge-sharing workshop on bear-smart business plans
Transportation: organized bus trip

24.10.25 Workshop day – Participation is by invitation only, whereas the audience may attend freely:
1. Stakeholder Workshop / Participatory Stakeholder & Coalition meeting (led by the Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, BOKU University, Austria)
2. Designing potential scenarios for collaboration between pastoralism and wildlife management (led by the Research and Development Institute for Wildlife and Mountain Resources, CoCo Project, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania)
3. Additional workshops on the Conference topic

Publication opportunity

Research and Development Institute for Wildlife and Mountain Resources from Miercurea Ciuc, as a co-organizer of the TusnadEcoBear Conference 2025 invites you, to contribute to a SPECIAL ISSUE. As a speaker or participant to the Conference you are invited to contribute with a paper to the Journal for Mountain Resources and Environment which will be a partner of our Conference in the years to come.

Journal for Mountain Resources and Environment (JMRE) intends to publish open access, peer-reviewed papers that address the research, policy, planning, and practice related to natural resources. The journal looks for papers that expand natural resource management and conservation knowledge ranging from practical experience to advances in theory. The journal places special emphasis on transdisciplinary studies that connect findings to management and conservation outcomes to address which strategies work as well as which strategies fail.

The special issue dedicated to the TusnadEcoBear Conference, which will be also the first number of JMRE, the editorial team invites you as participant to the conference to prepare a:

• Review. (max. 8000 words). Science-focused reviews should synthesize findings based on a well-developed scientific literature. Reviews should be explicit about the methods used to find the information and criteria on data curation.
• Research Paper. (min. 4000- max. 6000 words). Research papers describing original theoretical, empirical or synthetic research.
• Perspectives (max. 2000 words). Perspectives are opinion pieces that provide a forum for scientists and practitioners to develop ideas with broad significance to the JMRE topics. The focus can be on concepts, methods, applications, policy, or current or urgent conservation problems.
• Letter (max. 1000 words). A letter is a short communication regarding topics of interest to readers, including observations on controversial subjects.

Your support for the JMRE start-up is essential to ensure a future for the promotion and dissemination of quality research in the Carpathians and beyond. The editors will be present at the conference to offer more information about their plans and how you can help this new initiative.

Contact at: contact@jmreri.com

For more information please contact the TusnadEcoBear Team

Event organisation, venue, accommodation, logistics:
István Imecs +40 743 775 213 asociatiaprojectbag@gmail.com

Program, scientific content, speakers, and topics:
Alexandra Sallay-Mosoi +40 728 424 667 asallay@wwf.ro

Facilitator:  workshop from the Co-Co project:
Mihai I. Pop +40740201079 popmihai@icdcrm.ro

Content and editing of the Book of Abstracts:
Nándor Erős +40 756 306 431 erosnandi@gmail.com