The "LIFE Nature platform meeting on wildlife poisoning" was organized by the European Commission's LIFE Unit with the support of the Neemo Geie external monitoring team from the Hellenic Ornithological Society and of the WWF Greece, within the regulatory framework of the European Union regarding the wildlife illegal killing. Besides the beneficiaries of several LIFE Projects, also the members of the European Commission, of EASME, of Neemo and of other public authorities from the Balkan area took part in the meeting.
Athens was chosen as the site of the meeting because Eastern Europe is an area where poison illegal use is a deep-seated and widespread practice that is threatening the survival of many mammals, such as bear, wolf and lynx, and of many birds of prey, such as the Imperial eagle, the Egyptian vulture and the Cinereous vulture.
During the meeting, it was explained how the efforts made in the Balkan area to safeguard the species vulnerable to the use of poison have been, until now, often nullified by the continuous poisoning events that affected them. A dramatic but significant example is the decline of the Egyptian vulture Balkan population: the 500 couples of the 1980s has shrunk to a few dozens of couples in 2016 between Bulgaria and Greece.
The LIFE Projects' beneficiaries allowed the sharing of problems and weak points, and the exchange of the knowledges regarding the activities carried out, the implemented strategies and methods, which will foster a more effective and targeted approach to this serious wildlife crime. The contribution of the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park regarded the ongoing experience of the LIFE PLUTO Project and of the by now ended LIFE ANTIDOTO Project: both of them were presented by the project manager Anna Cenerini during a structured presentation that highlighted the collaboration between the National Park and the State Forestry Corps for the implementation of a prevention strategy on a national level, with the Anti-Poison Dog Units, the expertise of the State Forestry Corps and the making aware of the several stakeholders being the core of the project. Another interesting subject regarded the contribution guaranteed to the Park by the Ministry of Environment for the continuation of the activities carried out by the Anti-Poison Dog Units after the conclusion of the LIFE ANTIDOTO project.
Also the ornithologist Guido Ceccolini, director of the CERM Centro Rapaci Minacciati (Center for Threatened Birds of Prey) and of the Progetto Capovaccaio (Egyptian vulture project) took part in the meeting and collaborates with the Park for the implementation of the PLUTO Project.

On a European level, poisoning is considered as the most relevant illegal activity related to birds' killing.
As far as this matter is concerned, in 2011 the European Union carried out a study entitled "Stocktaking of the main problems and review of national enforcement mechanisms for tackling illegal killing, trapping and trade of birds in the EU", and consequently it developed a specific plan called "Action Plan 2013-2020 for the eradication of illegal killing, trapping and trade of wild birds", resulting from a conference held in Tunis in 2013 (Tunis' Conference on Illegal killing, trapping and trade of birds) and organized by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention.