EU Hunting Officials Focus on Large Carnivores, Disease and Digital Game Management in Latvia

The Latvian town of Kuldīga hosted the informal meeting of European Union hunting directors from 16 to 19 June 2026, bringing together senior officials responsible for hunting and wildlife management across member states.

According to FACE, the European Federation for Hunting and Conservation, the technical meeting was organised by the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture and attended by senior representatives with responsibilities for hunting and wildlife management. FACE took part as an observer, alongside the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation, known as CIC.

Large carnivores, hunting governance and animal health

The agenda described by FACE reflects several of the issues now shaping hunting policy across Europe. They included hunting governance, the management of large carnivores, international legal developments affecting hunting, and the use of digital tools to support decision-making in species management.

Participants also exchanged experience on wildlife monitoring, browsing damage in forests, African swine fever and national approaches to implementing nature restoration objectives. These are technical matters, but they have direct consequences for quotas, management plans, authorisations, control measures, habitat conservation and disease prevention.

African swine fever remains one of the main pressures in wild boar management in Europe, while forest damage and the presence of large carnivores require administrations to balance conservation, public safety, rural economies and social acceptance. The meeting was not presented as a legislative forum, but as a space for exchange between administrative decision-makers.

FACE links the debate to wider EU policy

During the meeting, FACE secretary general David Scallan gave an overview of recent European policy developments affecting hunting and conservation. According to the federation, these included the so-called “stress test” of the Birds and Habitats Directives, two central pillars of EU nature conservation law.

The value of such meetings lies partly in their low-profile character. They rarely produce major headlines, but they show which issues administrations are dealing with when hunting management is approached from a technical perspective: population data, animal health, damage, digital tools, ecological restoration and the compatibility of sustainable use with conservation.

FACE said it welcomed the opportunity to contribute to discussions aimed at promoting practical, science-based approaches to the sustainable management of wildlife in Europe. In the absence of broader public communication from the host ministry or detailed official conclusions, the available information currently comes mainly from the European federation.