Serena Frau, Fabrizio Cordischi

The Bear Smart Community (BSC) initiative in Italy adapts the Canadian Bear Smart model to the socio cultural and legal context of the Central Apennines, where the critically endangered Marsican brown bear still survives. In Canada, communities have long recognized their ability to reduce bear mortality by securing anthropogenic food sources and enforcing compliance through fines. Transferring this approach to Italy required substantial rethinking: the national legal framework does not allow for sanctions, and many rural communities rely heavily on external assistance, making direct transposition impossible.
Within the LIFE Bear Smart Corridors project, we therefore initiated a community based process aimed at building local responsibility. The establishment of BSC Committees in each village was a pivotal step. These committees collaborated in producing detailed risk maps, highlighting the specific elements that attract bears into settlements. This participatory approach helped residents visualize the vulnerabilities of their own communities and understand how coexistence challenges emerge from everyday practices.
The project has implemented a wide range of practical prevention measures, including electric fences, bear proof waste bins, bear proof doors, bear proof chicken coops, and the organized collection of fruit within villages. In some areas, these interventions were made possible thanks to the continuous presence of volunteers—400 between 2021 and 2026—who support daily activities and live year round in two of the BSCs. In depopulated rural areas, their presence has generated significant social and economic value, strengthening community cohesion and local capacity.
While prevention measures are essential for reducing conflicts and enabling coexistence, long term success will depend on addressing three structural challenges: securing stable financial resources to maintain and expand the program; ensuring the legality, durability, and maintenance of installed structures; and fostering genuine community ownership so that coexistence becomes a locally sustained practice rather than a project dependent effort.