LIFE Lynx project wins two prestigious LIFE 2025 awards

4. 6. 2025

Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning

With these awards, now in their 19th year, the Commission recognises the most innovative, inspiring and effective Life projects in three categories: nature and biodiversity conservation, the environment and climate action.

Grafika prvonagrajenega projekta LIFE s podobo risa in mladičev — 1 / 2

The awards were accepted by the Slovenian Forest Service director Gregor Danev and the Life Lynx coordinator Rok Černe.

The jury awarded the Life Lynx project in recognition of its active involvement of stakeholders, especially hunters, in saving the lynx from extinction. In the seven years of the project, 18 lynxes were brought to Slovenia and Croatia, and by the end of last year, more than 50 of their offspring had been recorded. In the Slovenian Alps, the reintroduced lynxes have established a bridging population, which is the first step towards the long-term conservation of the species in this part of Europe.

The award comes at a fitting time, as 11 June marks International Lynx Day. It has been celebrated since 2018, on the initiative of the 3Lynx project, as lynxes are endangered in most of Europe and would struggle to survive without human assistance.

The efforts of the LIFE Lynx project are presented in a short documentary film entitled Together for Lynx. More information about the project is available on the website LIFE Lynx.

The LIFE Lynx project was co-financed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning. The project resulted in the draft Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) in Slovenia, and draft Action Plan for Conservation and Sustainable Management of Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) for the 2024–2033 Period. To this end, the Preparatory group for the revision of strategic documents for Eurasian lynx was set up, comprising representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, the Slovenian Forest Service, the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, and the Hunters Association of Slovenia. The documents were adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in November 2024.

On this occasion, the Slovenian Forest Service is organising a meeting with the LIFE Lynx project team on the Lynx Trail in Kočevje, which will take place on Tuesday, 10 June 2025, at 16:00 at Koča pri Jelenovem studencu hut. Journalists and the general public are invited to attend, and the project team will lead participants on the nature trail after the meeting.