Today, we celebrate one of Europe’s most iconic species — the brown bear — and highlight the importance of protecting its future in the Southwestern Balkans.

 

Brown bears are essential for maintaining ecological balance and preserving biodiversity across the region. Protecting them means protecting entire ecosystems.

 

Through the Transboundary Brown Bear Conservation (TBBC) project, partners from Albania, Greece, and North Macedonia are joining forces to:

 

-Strengthen cross-border cooperation
-Improve habitat connectivity
-Enhance transboundary monitoring
-Reduce human–bear conflicts
-Combat wildlife crime
-Raise awareness and engage communities

 

And this is just the beginning:

The TBBC project paves the way for the LIFE DinPin Bear project, a large-scale initiative uniting 20 partners across 9 countries of the Balkans to ensure coordinated protection of the Dinaric–Pindos brown bear population.

 

The project will kick off in April 2026 — and we couldn’t be more excited about this next step toward the long-term coordinated protection of brown bears across countries.

 

Together, we are creating a shared future for wildlife and communities.