naturopa

The European

Landscape

Convention

N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2 E N G L I S H

EditorialThe European Landscape Convention E. Buergi ......................................3

Presentation of the European Landscape ConventionThe support of the Parliamentary Assembly P. Schieder ........................4A forward-looking convention: European landscapes for the 21st century G. Fairclough ................................................................5Adoption of the European Landscape Convention R. Alberotanza ........7Content and scope of the convention M. Djeant-Pons ..........................8The relationship between the convention and other internationalinstruments M. Prieur ............................................................................10

Landscape at the crossroadsThe historic and cultural dimensions of landscape P. Drury ................12Landscape and spatial planning synergy M.-J. Festas ..........................14Landscape and nature R.-P. Lebeau ......................................................15

Thoughts on landscapeLandscapes, the surroundings in which Europeans live J.-F. Seguin ....16The Council of Europes philosophy J.-M. Ballester ..............................16Landscape identification and assessment and landscape quality objectives Y. Luginbhl ........................................................................17Landscape, a growing concern B. Pedroli, E. Adolfsson ......................18Innovative tools: the Swiss experience A. Stalder ..................................19

Viewpoints ..........................................................................................20National policiesIntegration of nature and cultural heritage, the Norwegian exampleB. Brende ..................................................................................................22A common heritage, the example of Romania A. Baz ............................23The German landscape management legislation M. von Websky ........24Diversity of landscapes, Spain F. Zoido Naranjo ..................................25Armenia, a land of contrasts R. Alaverdyan ........................................26Polish landscape architecture J. Bogdanowski, J. Karmowska ............26The spirit of the convention in environmental activity in UkraineV. Oleshchenko ........................................................................................27Suburban landscapes: garden allotments in Hungary Z. Cros ..............28

Regional commitmentThe role of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of EuropeH. van Staa ................................................................................................29The Walloon Region M. Deconinck, J. Stein ........................................30The Catalonia Region X. Marti i Regu, F. Alavedra i Riera ..............31And now, Mr Mayor, its your turn R. Priore ....................................32

Partnership of non-governmental organisationsThe European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools R. Stiles ......33Europ Archaeologi Consilium A. Olivier ..........................................33They took away our landscape! T. ORegan ..........................................34Petrarca: Get connected to your place! J. D. van Mansvelt ................34

Education, information and awareness-raisingHistory landscape and landscape history S. Grappin ............................34Landscapes and mathematics T. Copeland ............................................35

Info Council of Europe ......................................36

National Agencies and Focal Points ..................38

naturopaN o . 9 8 2 0 0 2

Office fdral del'environnement,des forts etdu paysageOFEFP

Chief EditorJos-Maria BallesterDirector of Culture and Culturaland Natural Heritage

Director of publicationMaguelonne Djeant-PonsHead of DivisionRegional Planning and Technical Co-operation and Assistance Division

Concept and editingChristian MeyerE-mail: christian.meyer@coe.int

LayoutEmmanuel Georges

PrinterBietlot Gilly (Belgium)

Articles may be freely reprinted providedthat reference is made to the sourceand a copy sent to the Centre Naturopa.The copyright of all illustrations isreserved.

The opinions expressed in thispublication are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the Council of Europe.

Since 1993 Naturopa has been printedon chlorine-free paper.

Cover, Background: Terre 193,September 2000, by Marc HellerVignettes : salt marshes by M. Heller

This issue has been printed thanksto the financial support of the SwissFederal Office of Environment,Forestry and Landscape and of theWalloon Region.

On 20 October 2000, the Ministerial Conference opening the EuropeanLandscape Convention for signature was held in Florence, Italy.

No international legal instrument had previously dealt directly, specifically and fullywith landscapes and their protection, development and sustainable management, even thoughthey are an invaluable part of the heritage thanks to their cultural and natural diversity.

The European Landscape Convention filled this gap, this European legal lacuna, being the firstever European convention devoted to the landscape in its entirety and to the entirety ofthe landscape.

Small wonder, then, that this young convention has already been signed by twenty-fourEuropean states and ratified by five.

One of the peculiarities of Europe is the presence of innumerable cultures, reflected in animmense variety of landscapes. Drawing on this fact, the European Landscape Conventionsprimary recommendation is that the landscape should be enhanced as a tribute to history, asthe cradle of European cultural identity, as a shared heritage and as a reflection of a pluralEurope.

However, it also, and perhaps above all, promotes the landscape as an everyday livingenvironment.

The convention therefore refers to all landscapes, whether exceptional or ordinary, whichmeans that it also applies to workaday landscapes lacking any special remarkable features.In fact the conventions main concern is simply what we might refer to as everydaylandscapes, which are none the less vital habitats for the people living there, be theytraditional rural or modern suburban landscapes.

This up-to-date holistic approach so appropriately adopted by the convention was suggestedby the fact that the landscape is a criterion for every citizens quality of life. This approachwas especially necessary because of the indissoluble link between the multitude of Europeancultures and the diversity of European landscapes.

From this angle the landscape must not be left exclusively to the specialists but must expressa desire shared by all to live in a high-quality non-standardised urban or rural environment.

Appropriate management of the landscape must no longer be monopolised by areas ofexceptional quality, but should be extended to promoting and respecting everydaylandscapes.

Lastly, it should be stressed that the European Landscape Convention is completely in line withthe other Council of Europe activities on spatial planning, culture, nature and human rights.

Enrico BuergiPresident of the Conference of Contracting and Signatory States of the European Landscape Convention

Head of the Landscape DivisionFederal Office of Environment, Forestry and Landscape

CH - 3003 Bernenrico.buergi@buwal.admin.ch

The European LandscapeConvention

3n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Ce d i t o r i a l

4 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

The support of the Parliamentary Assembly

In Sicily, a Greek theatre and Mount Etna, subtle m

P r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e E u r o p e

From the vine-covered hills of Alsaceto the snowy mountain ridges of theCaucasus, and from the wide boule-vards of Paris to the cobblestone streetsof Prague, European landscapes,exceptional and ordinary alike, repre-sent our common European heritage.They are a vital but fragile asset and itis our responsibility to preserve themfor future generations.Our landscapes are a marriage ofnature and civilisation. Human inter-vention contributes to their creation,but it also represents their biggestthreat. There is increasing pressure onnatural resources and the cultural her-itage, and there is a strong need fornew approaches to reconciling theoften conflicting needs of our societiesand to sustaining the landscape as animportant resource.The European Landscape Convention,opened for signature at a ministerialconference in Florence two years ago,is certainly an excellent example of aninnovative legal instrument which hasits clearly set place in the internationallegislation dealing with the principlesof sustainable development.As stated in its Resolution 1150 (1998),Recommendation 1393 (1998) andOpinion 220 (2000), the Parliamen-tary Assembly has saluted this initia-tive from the beginning and has beenactively involved in the process of ini-tiating and developing the conventionsince 1994, when the Congress of Localand Regional Authorities of Europe(CLRAE) set up an ad hoc working groupwith the purpose of preparing a draftconvention. It has continuouslyexpressed its full political support forthis initiative, including the relevanceof monitoring the conventions appli-cation by existing intergovernmentalcommittees of the Council of Europe.However, two years after Florence, theinitiative has remained at the level ofa political declaration, with only five sig-natory states having ratified theconvention. The landscape is theconcern of all of us. Advances in pro-duction techniques and practices aswell as the more general global eco-nomic changes have in many casesled to degradation, debasement ortransformation of landscapes, which inturn have an adverse effect on the qual-ity of life of European citizens. Alsothe decline in biodiversity indicates

that limits must be set on human inter-vention.

A key element of well-beingThe Assembly earnestly believes thatthe landscape is a key element of indi-vidual and social well-being and that itsprotection, management and planningentail rights and responsibilities foreveryone. If people have a greater rolein decision-making about their sur-roundings, they will be able to rein-force local and regional identity anddistinctiveness, which in turn will bringrewards in terms of individual, socialand cultural fulfilment. The latter mayhelp to promote sustainable develop-ment of the area concerned, as thequality of landscape has an importantbearing on the success of economicand social initiatives, whether public orprivate.While each citizen must contribute topreserving the quality of the landscape,it is the responsibility of public author-ities to define the general frameworkin which this quality can be secured.The European Landscape Conventionwould help the contracting states toadopt national and community land-scape policies, as well as establish effec-tive international co-operation in thisfield. It presents a comprehensiveapproach, with sustainable develop-ment as the priority aim, and intro-duces the tools capable of guaranteeingthe management and protection of ourlandscapes. It is a flexible mechanismwhich states can apply according totheir own specific needs. The Assem-bly therefore calls upon all its mem-ber states to show their commitmentto future generations by ratifying theconvention, the first internationaltreaty wholly devoted to the protec-tion, sustainable management andenhancement of the European land-scape.As a follow-up to the recent World Sum-mit on Sustainable Development, theAssembly pledges its commitment tothe monitoring of the decisions takenin Johannesburg. Political will alonecannot suffice today to guarantee abalanced and mutually reinforcingenvironmental, social and economicapproach to sustainable development,or the management and protection ofour landscapes. What are needed arespecific targets and concrete action to

be taken by states, regions, localauthorities and civil society alike andto hold them accountable for their deci-sions.

Peter SchiederPresident of the Parliamentary Assembly

Council of Europepeter.schieder@coe.int

Fu

ste

-Ra

ga

/Je

rric

an

Co

un

cil

of

Eu

rop

e

5n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

A forward-looking convention: Europeanlandscapes for the 21st century

Pr

es

en

ta

tio

n o

f t

he

E

ur

op

ea

n L

an

ds

ca

pe

C

on

ve

nt

io

n

Landscape is the most accessible andinclusive of all aspects of heritage. It iseverywhere, so that every citizen hascontinuous access to some part of it,and it is personal and inclusive,because out of memory, associationsand knowledge everyone builds theirown perceptions. It is therefore highlyappropriate that the Council ofEuropes newest convention concernslandscape as living culture.The sustainable and democratic man-agement of Europes landscape isessential for shaping the future settingof peoples lives, as well as for passingon the landscape that we have inher-ited. Landscape management is aboutfinding ways to negotiate the transi-tion from yesterdays world to tomor-rows landscape. This transition needsto create a well-managed, thriving land-scape that people need for social,

cultural and economic health whilst atthe same time sustaining the richpalimpsest of landscape history andnature that helps to explain our his-tory, culture and identity.

An important step forwardThe European Landscape Conventionis the first instrument devoted exclu-sively to the protection, managementand planning of all landscapes inEurope. It is an important step forward,taking the Council of Europes familyof heritage conventions (Bern, Grenada,Valetta) into new territory. It does notsimply add another type of heritage tothe canon, but takes a new approachby promoting the cultural significanceand social value of all landscapes. Itexpands the concern of earlier conven-tions for parts of the heritage to aconcern for the whole landscape.

The convention breaks new ground inseveral ways. Its new definition is sig-nificant because of its simplicity andinclusiveness: landscape means anarea, perceived by people, whose char-acter is the result of the action andinteraction of natural and/or humanfactors. These words emphasise theimportance of people, today (per-ception) as much as in the past, andthey embody recognition of the partplayed by human actions and the pas-sage of time as well as by the processesof nature. They also underline the dom-inance of the interaction of nature andculture in making landscape, therebyencouraging integration and co-operation between separate disci-plines. The convention also recognisesthat ordinary, typical, everyday land-scapes, often characterised as muchby human impact as by naturalbeauty, have their own special value,contributing to the rich variety of theEuropean landscape.

A product of peoples perceptionThe definition of the European Land-scape Convention, significantly, beginswith the premise that landscape is aproduct of peoples perception. Land-scape in other words is not simplyanother word for environment it iscreated in the eyes, minds and heartsof beholders when the material, realcomponents of our environment areseen through the filters of memory andassociation, understanding and inter-pretation. Landscape appreciation isnot solely a matter for expert judg-ments, and one of the conventionsstrengths is its recognition of the needfor dialogue and exchange across thefull spectrum of society. Everyone cancreate their own perceptions of thelandscape where they live or work,and it is these democratic perceptionsthat give landscape its cultural andsocial as well as environmental andeconomic significance.Democratising landscape, however,requires citizens to have access to theprocesses of deciding which land-scapes are most valued and, moreimportantly, access to the decision-making processes by which landscapeis changed, protected and managed.The convention is therefore a democ-ratising instrument, stating unequiv-ocally that landscape is a common

Co

un

cil

of

Eu

rop

e

marriage between culture and nature

a n L a n d s c a p e C o n v e n t i o n

landscapes history and character, andof peoples perceptions, valuations andrequirements of it.

Graham FaircloughHead of Monuments and Countryside

Protection ProgrammesEnglish Heritage

23 Savile RowGB London W1S 2ET

graham.fairclough@english-heritage.org.uk

Europes culture, the setting to some-ones life, a focus of identity, and thefoundation for creating Europes land-scape for the new century.Perhaps the conventions main mes-sage is that there is only one landscape,that all parts of it matter to someone,and that both cultural and naturalaspects are essential to its characterand explain its current appearance. Itis not helpful to overlook the humanimpact on Europes landscape anymore than it is to ignore natures role.Nor is it sustainable to pretend thatthe landscape is more natural than itis, nor to believe that biodiversity canbe sustained in isolation from thecultural processes that created it. If thelandscape that we have inherited is tobe adequately managed and protectedfor the future, it is essential that all cit-izens have a clear understanding ofwhat has made the landscape.The convention above all has a strongconcern for awareness-raising,exchange of information and expert-ise, multi-disciplinary approaches andthe process of understanding andassessment: from mutual and wide-spread understanding can grow sus-tainable management. Foremost,however, is the need for better andstronger understanding, both of the

heritage and a shared resource. Itemphasises that everyone thereforehas the right and the responsibility tohelp in constructing and protecting ourperception of it. Action on landscape,reflecting local circumstances, isneeded at every level, from the pan-European to the local, from the expertto the personal, and at local andregional as well as national govern-ment level.

Innovative insistenceThis democratic aspect is underlinedby the European Landscape Conven-tions innovative insistence that itsaspirations and ambitions apply every-where, to the whole landscape. Othermeasures may apply particular pro-tection to especially beautiful or appar-ently natural areas within thelandscape, but the conventions dem-ocratic approach requires its applica-tion to so-called ordinary, everydaylandscape, even to landscape perceivedas spoiled or damaged. Any area oflandscape has reached its current stateby human/natural interaction throughtime, and whilst some aspects may beugly or unnatural, they are neverthe-less part of the cultural landscapesrich story. Whether very old or veryrecent, all landscapes are part of

6 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Signagi in Georgia

European pathways to the cultural land-scape (EPCL) is a network of ten coun-tries funded by the EU Culture 2000programme. It works to promote aware-ness of the cultural landscape in twelveunder-studied and often-overlookedareas of landscape. It is an enlargementof an earlier group of five projects, andwe hope that it will continue to extendits scope in future programmes to otherparts of Europe.The network extends from Ireland toEstonia and from Finland to Italy, andthus covers a very wide range of Euro-pean landscapes and environmentalzones. The nine countries and theirtwelve projects are:Czech Republic (Prachensko), Denmark(Funen), Estonia (Kaali), Finland (Untamala), Germany (Albersdorf andSpessart), Ireland (Dowris), Italy (Pan-eveggio/Vanoi), Sweden (Bjare and Hal-

land), United Kingdom (Bowland/LuneValley, Arfon).The network thus covers an enormousdiversity of European landscapes, all ofwhich, however, have in common a sig-nificant archaeological and historicdimension to landscape character.A major aspect of the programmes workis staff exchange and seminars amongmembers, ensuring the interchange ofdistinctive methods and the emergenceof a shared appreciation of the land-scape character and significance of eacharea. Our work is directed in the firstinstance to improving understandingand communicating this to the com-munity. A particular emphasis, takingits cue from the networks title, will bethe creation of both real (landscape trails)and virtual (web-based information)pathways into and through the land-scapes.

In our work we have adopted the Euro-pean Landscape Convention as a set ofguiding principles; we also share a com-mon philosophy of historic landscapecharacterisation, based on shared ideasabout the historic and archaeologicaldepth of the present-day landscape. Ourproject will also enter new territory bytrying to understand peoples percep-tion of their own landscapes. We do notonly wish to promote our own, expertsviews of the significance and value oflandscape, but also to learn from com-munity and individual perceptions.The EPCL project has a website atwww.pcl-eu.de

Graham Faircloughgraham.fairclough@english-heritage.org.uk

P r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e E u r o p e

European pathways to the cultural landscape a European network

Co

un

cil

of

Eu

rop

e

7n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Adoption of the EuropeanLandscape Convention Florence

Pr

es

en

ta

tio

n o

f t

he

E

ur

op

ea

n L

an

ds

ca

pe

C

on

ve

nt

io

n

This article voices three different feel-ings, reflecting the Italian Govern-ments commitment to the adoptionand opening for signature of the Euro-pean Landscape Convention, now alsoknown as the Florence Convention.This achievement, which is the resultof a joint effort, suggests that Euro-pean co-operation in this area will begreatly reinforced in the future.

GratitudeMy first feeling is one of gratitude to thecolleagues in the various ministriesand embassies who, each in their ownarea of responsibility, did their utmostto ensure that during Italys chair-manship of the Council of Europe, theconvention would first be adopted bythe Committee of Ministers in Stras-bourg on 19 July 2000, then be openedfor signature by the member states inFlorence on 20 October of the sameyear.This commitment was based on thework of the Committee for CulturalHeritage and the Committee for theActivities of the Council of Europe inthe field of Biological and LandscapeDiversity. Under their balanced super-vision, between September 1999 andFebruary 2000, a drafting committeevalidated the draft convention drawnup between 1994 and 1998 by theCongress of Local and Regional Author-ities of Europe.I am also grateful to the ParliamentaryAssembly of the Council of Europe,which always provided the politicalsupport required to bring the inter-governmental negotiations to a suc-cessful conclusion.

SatisfactionMy second feeling is one of satisfac-tion that a dream has finally come true.One of this Organisations primaryaims is to transform into legal princi-ples the ideals that underpin Europeancivilisation and enable it to develop.Aware of its role and experience andrelying on its closeness to the public,the Council of Europe acts as a per-manent think-tank aiming to identifythe ideals that help consolidate Euro-pean cultural identity, particularly inthe wake of the far-reaching political,social and economic changes that havemarked the history of our continentover the past decade.

As part of this ongoing process, thelandscape ideal has been recognised asan essential factor for the quality ofour living environment and a basiccomponent of our multiple identities.It has accordingly been translated intolegal principles common to all Euro-pean states, in a text widely recog-nised as innovative partly as a resultof the democratic methods used indrawing it up.I welcome it even more warmly in viewof the complexity of the subject of theconvention and the difficulties sur-rounding the extension of its scope.Some resistance has been expressedby various bodies specialising in natureor heritage conservation who wantedto keep landscape within the narrowconfines of their own responsibilities.In response to these trends, while alsoreferring to concerns associated withnature and cultural heritage, the ini-tial draft of the convention was basedon social considerations. That may bewhy it was able to overcome the con-ceptual difficulties attendant firstly onthe definition of landscape, with itsmultiple meanings and pluridiscipli-nary nature, and secondly on its dualsubjective and objective aspects.Thanks to the tenacity of the draftsauthors, the convention is now basedon a highly innovative conception oflandscape capable of altering the pub-lic policy approach to the environment,cultural heritage and spatial planningat national and European level.The convention actually establishesthat landscape must be recognised andlegally protected irrespective of thevalue or quality it embodies. Thisimplies that landscape protection mustnot only be afforded to areas of out-standing landscape value or quality,but must be extended to all areas, par-ticularly ordinary and damaged land-scapes.The Council of Europe has thus man-aged to democratise landscape by giv-ing governments a key to opening upa new sphere of public activity thatwill improve peoples quality of lifeand cover the whole territory of eachcountry.

HopeMy third feeling is one of hope, sincethe political importance of the Euro-pean Landscape Convention is appar-

ent to our governments, who havedecided to sign it through their repre-sentatives. However, a signature is nomore than a promise.If this promise is to be kept and theconvention is not to remain a dead let-ter, the authorities responsible forincorporating international treatiesinto the domestic legal systems of themember states should now completethe work started by intergovernmen-tal co-operation.The Council of Europes response mustalso be commensurate with the polit-ical success of the treaty it has created.It must reflect the expectations of thegovernments, which, via this conven-tion, have confirmed in law and in factthe Councils exclusive role in land-scape protection in Europe.From this point of view, it is to behoped that the activities aimed at pro-moting and monitoring the conven-tion organised by the Council of EuropeSecretariat will continue to fulfil themember states expectations regard-ing the nature and purposes of thisnew European treaty.On this point, our authorities arepleased to see that the directorateconcerned has recently been reor-ganised to guarantee: the cross-sectoral, comprehensive

and multidisciplinary scope of theconvention;

the necessary co-ordination for deal-ing with the very diverse scientificfields concerned;

the flexibility required by the rele-vant sectoral policies of the mem-ber states.

In my view, these three points are theguidelines for future work on the sub-ject. I am convinced that observanceof these principles will ensure that thelandscape ideal underlying the Flo-rence Convention will continue toafford us spiritual strength as an irre-placeable source and guide for the suc-cess of our joint activities.

Roberta AlberotanzaVice-Chair of the Steering Committee

for Culture (CDCULT)Vice-Director of the Italian Cultural

Institute of TiranaRuga Mustafa Matohiti 10

AL Tirana.roberta.alberotanza@esteri.it

Ho

mo

am

bie

ns/

Su

nse

t

a n L a n d s c a p e C o n v e n t i o n

8 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

P r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e E u r o p e a n L

Humankind can live without learning,without bread; only beauty is indispensable.The whole secret, the whole story, is there.

(Dostoyevsky)

The main objectives of the Council ofEurope are to promote democracy,human rights and the rule of law and toseek common solutions to the main prob-lems facing European society today. TheOrganisation is active in environmentprotection and in promoting sustainabledevelopment in line with Recommen-dation Rec (2002) 1 of the Committee ofMinisters of the Council of Europe tomember states on the Guiding Princi-ples for Sustainable Spatial Developmentof the European Continent, previouslyadopted by the European Conference ofMinisters responsible for Regional Plan-ning (CEMAT). These seek to protectEuropeans quality of life and well-beingtaking into account landscape, culturaland natural values.

Why a convention on landscape?As an essential factor of individual andcommunal well-being and an importantpart of peoples quality of life, landscapecontributes to human fulfilment andconsolidation of the European identity.It also has an important public interestrole in the cultural, ecological, environ-mental and social fields, and constitutesa resource favourable to economic activ-ity, particularly tourism.Now, the advances of production tech-niques in agriculture, forestry, industryand mining, together with the practicesfollowed in town and country planning,transport, networks, tourism and recre-ation, and more generally the globaleconomic changes, have in very manycases led to the degradation, debase-ment or transformation of landscapes.While each citizen must of coursecontribute to preserving the quality oflandscape, it is the responsibility of thepublic authorities to define the generalframework in which this quality can besecured. The European LandscapeConvention thus lays down the generallegal principles, which should guide theadoption of national, and communitylandscape policies and the establish-ment of international co-operation inthis field.

The objectives and originalityof the conventionThe object of the European LandscapeConvention is to further the protection,

management and planning of Europeanlandscapes, and to organise Europeanco-operation for these purposes. Todayit represents the first international treatywholly devoted to the protection, man-agement and enhancement of the Euro-pean landscape.Its scope is very extensive: the conven-tion applies to the entire territory of theparties and relates to natural, urban andperi-urban areas, whether on land, wateror sea. It therefore concerns not justremarkable landscapes but also ordi-nary everyday landscapes and blightedareas. Landscape is thus henceforthrecognised irrespective of its exceptionalvalue, since all forms of landscape arecrucial to the quality of the citizens envi-ronment and deserve to be consideredin landscape policies. Many rural andurban fringe areas in particular areundergoing far-reaching transforma-tions and must receive closer attentionfrom the authorities and the public.Given the breadth of scope, the activerole of citizens regarding perception andevaluation of landscapes is anotheressential point of the convention. Aware-ness-raising is thus a key issue, in orderthat citizens participate in the decision-making process which affects the land-scape dimension of the territory wherethey reside.

National measuresIn accepting the principles and aims ofthe convention, the contracting partiesundertake to protect, manage and/orplan their landscapes by adopting awhole series of general and specificmeasures at national level, in keeping,moreover, with the subsidiarity princi-ple. In this context, they undertake toencourage the participation of the pub-lic and of local and regional authoritiesin the decision-making processes thataffect the landscape dimension of theirterritory.The contracting parties undertake toimplement four general measures atnational level: legal recognition of landscape as

constituting an essential componentof the setting for peoples lives, asreflecting the diversity of their com-mon cultural and natural heritage andas the foundation of their identity;

establishment and implementation ofpolicies to protect, manage and planlandscapes;

procedures for participation by thegeneral public, local and regional

authorities and other parties interestedin the formulation and implementationof landscape policies;

integrating landscape into regionaland town planning policies, cultural,environmental, agricultural, social andeconomic policies, and any other poli-cies which may have direct or indi-rect impact on the landscape.

The contracting parties further under-take to implement five specific meas-ures at national level, to be appliedconsecutively: awareness-raising: improving appre-

ciation by civil society, private organ-isations and public authoritiesregarding the value, function andtransformation of landscapes;

training and education: providing spe-cialist training in landscape appraisaland landscape operations, multidis-ciplinary training programmes on land-scape policy, protection, managementand planning, aimed at professionalsin the private and public sectorand at interested associations, andschool and university courses which,in the relevant subject areas, coverlandscape-related values and ques-tions of landscape protection, man-agement and planning;

identification and evaluation: mobil-ising those concerned in order to attainbetter knowledge of landscape, andguiding the work of landscape identi-fication and evaluation throughexchanges of experience and meth-ods arranged between the parties atEuropean level;

setting landscape quality objectives:defining quality objectives for the land-scapes which have been identified andevaluated, after consulting the public;

implementation of landscape policies:introducing policy instruments for theprotection, management and/or plan-ning of landscapes.

International measures:European co-operationThe contracting parties undertake alsoto co-operate at international level incatering for the landscape dimensionin international policies and pro-grammes, and to recommend as appro-priate the inclusion of landscapeconsiderations in these policies and pro-grammes. They accordingly undertaketo co-operate in respect of technical andscientific assistance and exchange oflandscape specialists for training andinformation, and to exchange informa-

M.

He

lle

r

Content and scope of the convention

9n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Pr

es

en

ta

tio

n o

f t

he

E

ur

op

ea

n L

an

ds

ca

pe

C

on

ve

nt

io

n

tion on all questions covered by theconvention.Transfrontier landscapes are coveredby a specific provision: the contractingparties undertake to encourage trans-frontier co-operation at local and regionallevel and, wherever necessary, to pre-pare and implement joint landscape pro-grammes.

Landscape Award of the Council of EuropeThe European Landscape Conventionprovides for the conferment of a Land-scape Award of the Council of Europe.This constitutes an acknowledgementof the policy or measures applied bylocal and regional authorities or by non-governmental organisations to protect,manage and/or plan their landscape,which have proved lastingly effectiveand can thus serve as an example toother territorial authorities in Europe.The award will thus help to stimulatelocal agencies in encouraging andacknowledging exemplary landscapemanagement. It is to be made by theCommittee of Ministers at the proposalof the committees of experts responsi-ble for monitoring the implementationof the convention.The First Conference of Contracting andSignatory States of the European Land-scape Convention was organised inStrasbourg on 22 and 23 November2001 in order to urge the signature andratification of the convention and forconsidering the effective implementationof the convention after its entry intoforce.Five workshops on the implementationof the convention were also organisedin Strasbourg on 23 and 24 May 2002in order to discuss and present concreteexamples and experiences on the fol-lowing themes: landscape policies: the contribution

to the well-being of European citizensand to sustainable development social, economic, cultural and eco-logical approaches;

landscape identification, evaluationand quality objectives, using culturaland natural resources;

awareness-raising, training and edu-cation;

innovative tools for the protection,management and planning of land-scape;

the Landscape Award.The Second Conference of Contractingand Signatory States held on 28 and29 November 2002 in Strasbourgenabled participants to further theirthoughts on each of these themes in

order to prepare for the entry into forceof the convention.Contemporary lifestyles are such thatpeople aspire more and more to redis-cover an unspoiled setting and to pre-serve their natural as well as culturalheritage. By means of this growing socialdemand, landscape gains or regains pres-tige and begins to be perceived as a majorcomponent of sustainable developmentpolicies. It is necessary to recognise theimportance and value of landscapes andto reconcile the right to achieve prof-itability with the right to enjoy well-being,health and scenic beauty.

Maguelonne Djeant-PonsHead of the Spatial Development and

Landscape DivisionSecretary of the European Landscape

ConventionCouncil of Europe

maguelonne.dejeant-pons@coe.int

a n d s c a p e C o n v e n t i o n

M.

He

lle

rConcerning the natural and cultural her-itage, see the other conventions of theCouncil of Europe: Convention on theConservation of European Wildlife andNatural Habitats (Bern, 19 September1979), the Convention for the Protectionof the Architectural Heritage of Europe(Granada, 3 October 1985) and the Euro-pean Convention on the Protection of theArchaeological Heritage (London, 6 May1969, revised, Valetta, 16 January 1992).

Position regarding signaturesand ratificationsBy 19 November 2002, twenty fourstates had signed the convention

Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,Denmark, Finland, France, Greece,Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg,Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Por-tugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia,Spain, Sweden, Switzerland andTurkey and five of them, Norway,Moldova, Ireland, Romania and Latviahad ratified or approved it. The regionsof Catalonia and Wallonia had alsocommitted themselves to respect theprinciples of the European LandscapeConvention. The convention will comeinto force when ten states have ratified,approved or accepted it.

DefinitionsTerms used in the convention aredefined so as to ensure uniform inter-pretation:Landscape means an area, as per-ceived by people, whose characteris the result of the action and inter-action of natural and/or human fac-tors.Landscape policy means anexpression by the competent pub-lic authorities of general principles,strategies and guidelines that per-mit the taking of specific measuresaimed at the protection, manage-ment and planning of landscapes.Landscape quality objective means,for a specific landscape, the formu-lation by the competent publicauthorities of the aspirations of the

public with regard to the landscapefeatures of their surroundings.Landscape protection meansaction to conserve and maintain thesignificant or characteristic featuresof a landscape, justified by the land-scapes heritage value derived fromits natural configuration and/orhuman activity.Landscape management meansaction, from a perspective of sus-tainable development, to ensure theregular upkeep of a landscape, so asto guide and harmonise changeswhich are brought about by social,economic and environmentalprocesses.Landscape planning means strongforward-looking action to enhance,restore or create landscapes.

Sites of the European Landscape Convention:http://www.coe.int/ConventionEuropenneduPaysagehttp:/ /www.coe.int/EuropeanLandscapeConvention

Aerial view of a wetland

agement measures may therefore applyboth to sites recognised as being ofCommunity interest, and to the rest ofthe territory: indeed, it is explicitly statedthat the states are to intervene toencourage the management of featuresof the landscape where they considerit necessary in their land-use planningand development policies. Also identi-fied are the landscape features thatshould be given special attention: thosewhich, by virtue of their linear and con-tinuous structure (such as rivers andtheir banks or the traditional systems formarking field boundaries) or their func-tion as stepping stones (such as pondsor small woods), are essential for the

10 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

The relationship between the convention

Promoting agricultural methods compatible with protecti

M.

He

lle

r

In Slovenia

P r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e E u r o p e

The landscape has already been a focusof international attention. The Wash-ington Convention on Nature Protec-tion and Wildlife Preservation in theWestern Hemisphere, dated 12 Octo-ber 1940, states in its preamble that itsaim is to protect and preserve sceneryof extraordinary beauty. Generallyspeaking, however, the existingconventions designate only outstand-ing scenery as worthy of interest. Thisis the case, for example, in the UnescoConvention concerning the Protectionof the World Cultural and Natural Her-itage, dated 16 November 1972, or theApia Convention on Conservation ofNature in the South Pacific, dated 12June 1976.It is much rarer for international textsto take an interest in landscape per seas an environmental feature andframework for everyday life, deservingof attention whatever the valueattached to it. This is the case for theBenelux Convention on Nature Conser-vation and Landscape Protection,adopted in Brussels on 6 August 1982,or the Salzburg Convention of7 November 1991 on the Protectionof the Alps, and its protocol on natureprotection and landscape conserva-tion, adopted on 20 December 1994.A reference to landscape is also madein the Espoo Convention of 25 Febru-ary 1991 on Environmental ImpactAssessment in a TransboundaryContext, and the two Helsinki Conven-tions of 17 March 1992 on the Pro-tection and Use of TransboundaryWatercourses and International Lakesand the Transboundary Effects ofIndustrial Accidents.

Standard-setting textsAlongside these international conven-tions, European Community law haspaid particular attention to the land-scape in six standard-setting texts, as anelement in agricultural policy and natureand environmental protection. Thelandscape per se first appeared in abinding EU text on the occasion of thenew common agricultural policy andthe withdrawal of arable land (Regula-tion No. 797-85 of 12 March 1985, onimproving the efficiency of agriculturalstructures OJEC L93-1, 30 March 1985).This 1985 regulation refers in Article19 to landscape conservation as a newagricultural activity. This text was

amended in 1987 and 1991. Currently,the new agro-environmental policy isbased on Regulation No. 2078-92 of30 June 1992 on agricultural produc-tion methods compatible with therequirements of the protection of theenvironment and the maintenance ofthe countryside. This system, currentlybeing applied, specifies that EuropeanAgricultural Guidance and GuaranteeFund assistance may serve to promoteways of using agricultural land that arecompatible with protection andimprovement of the landscape or otherproduction methods that are compati-ble with maintenance of the country-side. Two other EU texts require thecountryside to be taken into account. Inintroducing a harmonised Europe-wideprocedure for impact studies, DirectiveNo. 85-337 of 27 June 1985 on theassessment of the effects of certain pub-lic and private projects on the environ-ment makes direct reference to thelandscape at two levels. In defining proj-ects to be submitted to an impactassessment, the directive envisagesinterventions in the natural surround-ings other than construction works orother installations. Further, the impactstudys content must evaluate the pro-jects effects on several environmentalfeatures, among which the landscape isexplicitly mentioned. Finally, DirectiveNo. 92-43 of 21 May 1992, on theconservation of natural habitats and ofwild fauna and flora, set up specialconservation sites linked through a Euro-pean Ecological Network (Natura 2000)for sites of Community interest, definedand designated by the Commission,and simultaneously established a gen-uine EU landscape policy. Indeed, thedirective invites the states to take meas-ures to manage landscape featureswhich are of major importance for wildfauna and flora. Admittedly, such meas-ures would be voluntary and could beintroduced throughout the territory,seemingly not merely in the specialconservation areas. Strict obligationsare imposed in these particular sites,and one might assume that the land-scape is one of the features likely tohave an effect on natural habitats andinfluence their conservation state. Thenatural habitat was defined as an areadistinguished by geographic, abioticand biotic features, whether entirelynatural or semi-natural. Landscape man-

Co

un

cil

of

Eu

rop

e

11n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

and other international instruments

Pr

es

en

ta

tio

n o

f t

he

E

ur

op

ea

n L

an

ds

ca

pe

C

on

ve

nt

io

n

migration, dispersal and geneticexchange of wild species. Despite thisnew importance accorded to landscape,it is clear that the landscape dimensionhere is closely tied in with nature pro-tection.

Relations with other instrumentsThe European Landscape Conventionprovides for relations with other instru-ments or bodies in Articles 7 and 12.These concern the inclusion of the land-scape dimension in international foraand the conventions legal compati-bility with other conventions.The inclusion of the landscape dimen-sion in other policies corresponds to

the objective of sustainable develop-ment, as set out in Principle 4 of the1992 Rio Declaration. Unusually for aconvention, the parties undertake toco-operate in the consideration of thelandscape dimension in internationalfora during the adoption of internationalpolicies or programmes, for examplein Unep structures and Council ofEurope structures on the Pan-EuropeanBiological and Landscape Diversity Strat-egy. They also undertake to seek toincorporate landscape concerns in inter-national actions and decisions, eitherthrough conventions or, for example, viaEU institutions for agricultural policy orthe policy on sustainable tourism.

The European Landscape Conventioncontains a traditional clause, intendedto ensure that the parties do notconsider themselves definitively boundby the level of obligation set out in theconvention and thus precluded fromsubscribing to stricter obligations.Needless to say, this would be coun-terproductive in terms of achievingprogressively higher environmentalprotection. Accordingly, there is areservation, emphasising that the Flo-rence Convention does not precludethe parties from accepting other,stricter, provisions in the area of land-scape.

Distinctive featuresThe European Landscape Conventiondiffers from the Unesco Conventionconcerning the Protection of the WorldCultural and Natural Heritage of16 November 1972 both formally andsubstantially. Like the organisationsunder whose auspices they were drawnup, the two conventions have differentpurposes. One is regional in scope, theother international. The Council ofEuropes convention covers all land-scapes, even those that are not of out-standing universal value, but does notdeal with historic monuments, unlikethe Unesco convention. Similarly, itsmain objective is not to draw up a listof assets of exceptional universal value,but to introduce protection, manage-ment and planning rules for all land-scape based on a set of principles.Thus, each convention has its distinc-tive features. In order to co-ordinateaction under the two conventions,consideration could be given to sci-entific co-operation between theUnesco World Heritage Committeeand the committees of experts men-tioned under Article 10 of the Euro-pean Landscape Convention, throughan agreement between Unesco andthe Council of Europe, in applicationof Article 13.7 of the Unesco conven-tion of 16 November 1972, and as sug-gested in Article 7 of the EuropeanLandscape Convention.

Michel PrieurDirector of the Centre de recherches

interdisciplinaires en droit delenvironnement, de lamnagement et

de lurbanisme (CRIDEAU)32, rue Turgot

F 87000 Limogesprieur@unilim.fr

Lo

pe

z G

eo

rge

s/B

ios

ion and improvement of landscape or other production methods compatible with maintenance of the countryside

a n L a n d s c a p e C o n v e n t i o n

The sandbank of Arguin (France)

12 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

The landscape of Europe reflects theinteraction between man and natureover many millennia. Thus it is an his-toric environment, in the sense of being a document or archive whichcan tell the story from the Palae-olithic until yesterday of how peo-ple have interacted with the landscapethat they inherited. It is also a culturalenvironment, a major component ofthe cultural heritage of people inEurope today. Indeed, it might be seenas the very foundation of cultural iden-tity, for whilst language, literature,music and other intangible culturaltraits are readily transported, they areultimately rooted in, and shaped by,the landscape in which they originated.Thus the historic dimension of the envi-ronment is essentially the sum of thesurviving physical impacts of people onthe landscape, whereas the culturaldimension of the environment can beseen as the sum of the intangible mean-ings, values, attributes and associa-tions that people attach to its physicalcomponents, whether an individualbuilding, a distinctive area, or even anentire continent. Hence the very fewareas of Europe on which the physi-cal impact of people remains very lim-ited can still be invested with high

cultural value by people whose cultureis grounded in them, for example theSami in the arctic region of northernScandinavia and Russia.

A changing landscapeOur European landscape has tendedto change incrementally, with occa-sional major interventions that havebeen more often as a result of eco-nomic or technical factors than polit-ical ones. The majority of Greek andRoman urban centres, for example,are still occupied today, just as muchof the most productive agricultural landhas remained in more or less contin-uous cultivation for millennia. Thus anapparently commonplace element ofour surroundings, like the line of anurban street or a field boundary, mayhave been established one, perhapstwo thousand years ago. Only quiterecently have the complexity, antiq-uity and continuity of the palimpsestwithin which we live become widelyrecognised, and archaeological studydeveloped from a focus on individualsites to the spatial, social and politicaldynamics of communities in their land-scapes. With the consequent realisationthat, in terms of the information aboutthe past that it contains, a landscape

is more than the sum of its parts, hascome the realisation of the need tomanage this irreplaceable resource ona more global level.

An eroded complex heritageThis recognition of the historic andcultural values of landscapes is linkedto an increase in the pace and scale ofchange, as a result of which this com-plex heritage is being eroded at a dra-matic rate. The regional distinctivenessthat arose naturally from the pre-dominant use of local materials inbuilding, in forms that reflected inter-related influences such as climate,economy, social structure and expres-sions of cultural affiliation, is beingreplaced by modern forms of buildingand agriculture that are European orinternational in their range. Complexityand texture give way to simplicity andblandness. But this tendency towardscultural homogenisation is not new. Itwas a major force in the nineteenthcentury, as industrialisation replacedtraditional means of production, andrailways cheaply transported theresults. What has changed, especiallyin the second half of the twentieth cen-tury, is its scale and pace, as it hasbecome an aspect of the phenomenonof globalisation. Thus an increasingpublic appreciation of the value of sus-taining local and regional identity anddistinctiveness has grown up as aresponse to experience of the conse-quences of their loss. It has been rein-forced by the realisation that many ofthe changes of the past half centuryhave proved to be inherently unsus-tainable, both in social and environ-mental terms.

Universality of valuesThe idea that the whole Europeanlandscape has a cultural dimension,perceived by people, which forms theircultural environment, that is to say,the universality of the evidential andcultural heritage values in the Euro-pean landscape, is a direct and rela-tively recent result of these trends. Itrepresents a step beyond the incre-mental process of widening the rangeand extent of sites considered suffi-ciently special to be designated andprotected as cultural heritage. Fromthe protection of major cultural mon-uments in isolation, we moved on to

L.

Bu

eli

nck

x

The historic and cultural dimensions of lan

The Acropolis in Athens: the majority of Greek and Roman urban centres are still occupied today

Ho

rizo

n v

isio

n/S

un

set

Reflections in Budapest

L a n d s c a p e a t t h e c r o s s

13n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

protecting their setting, and protect-ing historic urban centres and land-scapes whose cultural value has beenincreasingly recognised. But this widen-ing of perceptions of what is valu-able still left the heritage assomething set apart, rather than theframework within which we all live, adynamic construction that will neverbe complete. Increasing designationcannot of itself achieve the manage-ment of the cultural dimension of theEuropean landscape. Indeed, it can becounterproductive, for not only doesit appear to dilute or devalue the sig-nificance of what is designated: if itextends to a substantial portion of thelandscape, it can appear to denigratethe rest.Importantly, the European LandscapeConvention recognises that the wholeof Europe comprises landscapes thatare an essential component of peo-ples surroundings, an expression ofthe diversity of their shared culturaland natural heritage, and a foundationof their identity. If all landscapesembody cultural values, it follows thatwe should everywhere be seeking tomanage change so as to sustain (andindeed enhance) those cultural values,based upon an understanding of thenature and evolution of the place, andthe values that people attach to ele-ments of it. The term integratedconservation must necessarily expandbeyond the original concept of inte-gration with spatial planning, toencompass other fields, like agricul-tural policy, which play a major part inshaping the evolution of landscapes,and consequently cultural heritages.

Identify and seek to protectThe increasing tendency for individu-als and communities to identify andseek to protect what they value hasbeen a driving force behind the expan-sion of the designated cultural her-itage. There is now clear recognitionthat we must add the bottom-upvalue judgments of individuals andcommunities to the top-down valuejudgments of experts like archaeolo-gists and architectural historians. Thebasic building block of the Europeanheritage should be the local, the valuesperceived by individuals who formcommunities (which may be com-posed of people sharing common val-

ues, rather than being geographicallydefined, and so may include commu-nities now separated from some ele-ments of heritage which are importantto their identity). The emphasis hasshifted from monuments to people in all their diversity. It has becomedemocratised. Thus the definition ofa landscape in the convention as anarea, as perceived by people is an ele-gant statement of principle.The extension of the concept of culturalheritage to encompass the culturalenvironment, the need to sustain itscultural values as perceived by peo-ple, and the idea of a right to culturalheritage as a form of human right, arebeing developed under the auspicesof the Cultural Heritage Committee, inthe form of a draft framework conven-tion which could provide a dynamicstructure for working out good practicein implementing these ideas. There isa particular need to develop an under-standing that heritage is constantlybeing created and destroyed; theprocess is a negotiation between past,present and future. This perhaps needsto draw on concepts developed in theprotection of the natural environment(critical, consistent, tradable capital),to shift the emphasis from preventingchange to managing change based onknowledge from preservation toconservation.We must also consider where thethreshold of public interest lies, forheritage values are essentially a pub-lic interest in largely private property.How many people does it take to forma community, identify the cultural val-ues or significance they attach to aplace or landscape, and legitimatelyinfluence its management through

democratic, public process? How cansuch value judgments be made moretransparent, accountable? Is it possibleto develop standards for understand-ing, by communities as well as experts,since understanding is the essentialbasis for first assessing significanceand describing cultural values, andthen taking steps to sustain them?

Paul DruryChair of the Steering Committee for Cultural

Heritage (CDPAT)23 Spencer Road

GB Twickenham TW2 5TZpdrury@ftech.co.uk

dscape

Traditional vineyard in Slovenia

Co

un

cil

of

Eu

rop

e

r o a d s

La

nd

sc

ap

e a

t t

he

c

ro

ss

ro

ad

s

The Guiding Principles for Sustain-able Spatial Development of the Euro-pean Continent, adopted at theTwelfth Conference of European Min-isters responsible for Regional Plan-ning of the Council of Europe (CEMAT),in Hanover in September 2000, andincluded in the RecommendationRec(2002)1 of the Committee of Min-isters of the Council of Europe, is themost recent document of the Councilof Europe considering spatial planningin relation to sustainability and repre-senting a vision, a concept for sus-tainable development with a territorialdimension.Based on the principles of the Euro-pean Regional/Spatial Planning Char-ter (Torremolinos, 1983), the GuidingPrinciples recognise that the Europeancontinent is characterised by its diver-sity and in particular, that the plural-ity of its landscapes is a significant partof the European heritage.By its characteristics, nature and objec-tives, spatial development policy, beingcomprehensive and long-term ori-

14 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Landscape and spatial planning synergy

Two of the most important aspects of the conventionare the recognition of all landscapes and the need

to manage them for sustainability

S.

Sp

ach

L a n d s c a p e a t t h e c r o s s

ented, based on participation and co-operation, is a fundamental tool of sus-tainability.

An important partThe territorial dimension must be animportant part of this sustainable pol-icy, as the territory is closely linked tothe environmental, social and eco-nomic systems and processes. Spatialplanning, aiming to promote a bal-anced regional development, andbeing forward-looking, is a speciallysuited tool for sustainability.Although the concept and meaning ofthe word landscape has changedthrough time, landscapes are increas-ingly being recognised as a funda-mental part of our natural, historical,cultural and scientific heritage, and asthe basis of our territorial identifica-tion.Both the Guiding Principles and theEuropean Spatial Development Per-spective (ESDP) recognise that thediversity of Europes landscapescontribute to local and regional iden-tity, reflecting the past and presentrelationships between man and hisnatural and built environment. Theyare an important resource for territo-rial development, thus needing to bemanaged for conservation (as put for-ward in 1996 in the Pan-European Bio-logical and Landscape DiversityStrategy) but also in terms of creativemanagement, enhancement and reha-bilitation in the framework of inte-grated territorial development.Landscape management is closelylinked to the integrative role of spatialdevelopment policy, whose task is toco-ordinate various sector policies inconnection with their territorial impact.The European Landscape Convention,recognising landscapes as a naturaland cultural heritage and part of peo-ples identity, aims to promote land-scape conservation, management andplanning. Two of the most importantaspects of this convention are therecognition of all landscapes and theneed to manage them for sustainabil-ity.

To manage for sustainabilityThe planning and management of land-scapes must have a long-term per-spective as landscapes are a complex,permanently dynamic system, where

different natural, cultural and socio-economic factors and processes influ-ence each other and change over time,thus expressing and at the same timesupporting the spatial and temporalinteraction of man with the environ-ment, in all its diversity and creativ-ity.Spatial development policy also has totake into consideration processes andchanges and to propose overall strate-gies aiming at a balanced regionaldevelopment.Spatial development policy, aiming atterritorial and social cohesion is, bycharacteristics and nature, especiallysuited to be the framework for theimplementation of the European Land-scape Convention.Landscape policy must thus be an inte-gral component of spatial or territo-rial development policy. Both have aterritorial basis, to be managed for sus-tainability, and are global and forward-looking.Spatial planning policy can contributeto the protection, management andenhancement of landscapes by adopt-ing appropriate co-ordination meas-ures at the most appropriate level, andin particular by organising better inter-actions between various sectoral poli-cies with territorial impacts, whilerespecting local specificity and main-taining the identity of local landscapes.The international CEMAT seminarorganised in Lisbon on 26-27 Novem-ber 2001 on Landscape heritage,spatial planning and sustainable devel-opment stressed the importance ofspatial sustainable planning for land-scape policies.

Maria Jos FestasVice-Chair of the Committee of Senior

Officials of CEMATGeneral Directorate for Spatial Planning

and Urban DevelopmentMinistry of Towns, Regional Planning

and EnvironmentCampo Grande 50

P 1749014 Lisboa

Ma

rge

/Su

nse

t

15n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Landscape and nature

La

nd

sc

ap

e a

t t

he

c

ro

ss

ro

ad

s

Landscape results from combinationsof many factors, both natural andcultural, which have developed over thecourse of time in line with individualgeographical considerations. These fac-tors continue to shape the landscapethrough a dynamic process, viewed byman in a variety of ways, depending onwhether he is participant or spectator.In Europe, the landscape forms a whole,including both socio-economic andcultural aspects and a natural dimen-sion as the living environment of theflora and fauna. Accordingly, it is notpossible to separate the concepts ofcultural landscape and natural land-scape as they are both extremely closelyinterrelated (the terraced approach tofarming in the Mediterranean regions,extensively cultivated plains, selectionforests).As both the natural habitat for wildlifeand the setting for economic, social andcultural development, the landscapeforms spatial units which have devel-oped in line with individual natural condi-tions and historical factors, all of whichcontinue to evolve in accordance withspecific dynamic processes.

An immense diversityOne of the things that makes Europe sodifferent from other continents is theimmense diversity of landscapes withinshort distances. One of the reasons putforward to explain the natural aspect ofthis uniqueness is that Europe is the onlycontinent where vast plains at low alti-tude, formerly rich in vegetation, werecovered by glaciers, which subsequentlyretreated forming extremely diversifiednatural ecosystems.The areas not covered by the glaciersthen became home to more xerophilousspecies, and continue to serve as a habi-tat for these rarest and most endangeredspecies, such as the endemics (the lau-rel forests of the Azores, the fresh-watersponges of Lake Ohrid (the formerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia), ves-tiges of the species living in the Tertiaryperiod in Europe).These diverse landscapes have, ofcourse, also given rise to diverseapproaches to farming, and human inge-nuity has adapted to the specific natu-ral conditions of each region in order toturn to account its economic potentialand development, in turn transformingthe surrounding landscape.

This economic dynamism, profitablefor man though it may be, has unfortu-nately in recent decades been exces-sive and has radically changed thenatural and semi-natural landscapes,divesting them of all their originality. Asa result, there has been a considerableloss of an extraordinary age-old her-itage.While the disappearance of landscapesclose to the natural state may be viewedas an early warning sign of the recedingbiological and landscape diversity of anarea, the blame cannot be attributedsolely to intensive farming or unortho-dox forestry. Today, high among thefactors contributing to the deteriorationof the landscape are urban developmentand the fragmentation of a region bytransport infrastructure.

Deterioration factorsIn Switzerland, over a twelve-year period(1978-1989), on average almost onesquare metre (0.86 m2) per second ofnature disappeared as a result of urbandevelopment. This is the equivalent often football pitches per day.In addition to the exponential growthin urban development, there has beenincreased fragmentation of residualareas, dividing up the territory, destroy-ing the links between the habitats nec-essary for the flora and fauna or creatingimpenetrable barriers.This is why quite rightly, the landscapeas such has become a major politicalissue, involving all European citizens.In this context, the adoption by the

Council of Europe member states of theEuropean Landscape Convention is ofsuch significance, aiming as it does toperpetuate the heritage of our culturesand natural resources, which are somuch a feature of the pan-Europeanlandscape.All the work carried out by theCommittee for the Activities of the Coun-cil of Europe in the field of Biologicaland Landscape Diversity (CO-DBP) helphighlight the landscape dimension inthe various fields of the Pan-EuropeanBiological and Landscape Diversity Strat-egy. The ultimate aim of the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN) isto secure the links between the floraand fauna habitats of Europe, therebycompensating for the fragmentation oflandscapes observed in certain parts ofEurope. A further objective of the strat-egy is to promote a sustainable use oflandscapes in carrying out sectoral eco-nomic activities, through the incorpo-ration of nature and landscapeconservation and management require-ments. This is a practical approach toachieving the objective of sustainabledevelopment.

Raymond-Pierre LebeauChairman of Committee for the Activities of

the Council of Europe in the field of Biologicaland Landscape Diversity (CO-DBP)

Federal Department of Environment,Forests and Landscape

CH 3003 Bernraymond-pierre.lebeau@buwal.admin.ch

r o a d s

P.

Ma

rty

ka

n

16 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Landscapes, the surroundings in which Europeans live

T h o u g h t s o n l a n d s c a p e

Given areas are not endowed with land-scapes, which, as defined in the EuropeanLandscape Convention, only manifest them-selves through what people perceive of them.This definition has its origin in the pream-bles recognition of the fact that landscapeis an important part of the quality of life forpeople everywhere because it is a key ele-ment of individual and social well-being.This preamble moreover underlines thepublics wish not only to enjoy high qual-ity landscapes, but also to play an activepart in their development.It is indeed this which makes the landscape as a public policy matter of growing impor-tance to the quality of Europeans living condi-tions. Living somewhere does not merelymean carrying on a number of social andeconomic activities there; it is primarily syn-onymous with self-realisation in a high qual-ity relationship with both society and the landat the local, national and European levels. Itis a question of bringing our individual andcollective selves into harmony. The draftingof this convention was made possible by thefact that, apart from our local, regional andnational identities, we have a strong sense ofbeing Europeans, of sharing the same culture

of the land and the same way of inhabitingit. We do not merely wish to live there; wewish above all to live well there.A convention does not come into being bychance, and it was no chance matter thatthe European Landscape Convention had itsorigins in an initiative of the Congress ofLocal and Regional Authorities of Europe(CLRAE). Over the past ten years or so, thelandscape has become a very common sub-ject, a policy matter in the primary sense;it has become part and parcel of the man-agement of community affairs.

A new instrument for a recent concernTraditional landscape policies focus aboveall on protection of noteworthy sites, whichare more often than not vestiges of the past.As it has become an increasingly widespreadconcept in our society, the landscape hasdrawn nearer to us, to the places where welive. The landscape can now be seen as a keyto many of the challenges facing our modern-day society. This was why weneeded jointly to devise a new instrument,in tune with this still recent concern. Theconvention is aimed at managing and devel-oping landscapes as much as protecting

them, and this is because Europeans todaymost often live in urban areas, where theprocess of change has speeded up.Landscapes are no longer merely conduciveto nostalgia for an era when we were country-dwellers. They have a more forward-looking dimension, that of our ever strongerdesire to live as Europeans. It is of coursenecessary to preserve the landscapes mosttypical of our history and culture. They areindeed an irreplaceable heritage. But theyrepresent only a very small share of the land,which is mainly made up of day-to-day land-scapes. Because they constitute our dailysurroundings, these landscapes are just asworthy of the public authorities attention.They are closest to the population, and thepublic must therefore be closely involved intheir management and development. TheEuropean Landscape Convention answersthis aim, which is undoubtedly a particularlycompelling objective for all public authoritiesin Council of Europe member states.

Jean-Franois SeguinHead of the Landscape Office

Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development20 avenue de Sgur

F 75032 Paris 07 SPjean-francois.seguin@environnement.gouv.fr

Council of Europe action in landscape mat-ters is driven by a philosophy, a politicalvision and a standard-setting approachshaped by the Councils basic commitmentto democracy and by its goal of creating acontinent-wide area of democratic secu-rity resting on four main pillars the ruleof law, parliamentary democracy, univer-sality and indivisibility of human rights,and awareness of a shared cultural her-itage whose diversities are an enrichment.Developing that awareness, instilling inevery European a common sense of belong-ing, using our physical and intellectual her-itage to create a groundswell of democraticcitizenship, getting dialogue going betweencultures and between communities, andtriggering a process of mutual discoveryand mutual recognition are all part of thethinking which the Council has been evolv-ing for over half a century.These ideas are basic to its intergovern-mental work in culture, cultural heritage,environment and spatial planning. Herethe Council of Europes action is also con-ditioned by political attachment to a par-

ticular model of society a humanist modelin which values and action interconnectin a collective drive to ensure that every-one has a day-to-day environment andquality of life compatible with human dig-nity.That requires policies, idealism on occa-sion, but at the very least a consistentdynamic which would not be possible,Europe-wide, without common guidelines,frameworks and provisions approved bythe international community. The Councilof Europes commitment to landscape cantherefore be seen in its standard-settingwork.This has produced the Convention for theProtection of the Architectural Heritage ofEurope (Granada, 1985), giving legalexpression to a heritage approach based onintegrated conservation approach; the Euro-pean Convention on the Protection of theArchaeological Heritage (Valletta, 1992),which takes in the regional dimension andtackles the conflicting interests of regionaldevelopment and archaeological conser-vation; and the European Landscape

Convention, an innovative instrument pro-moting active, dynamic protection of Euro-pean landscapes and offering thecontracting parties new policies.These three conventions, plus the Conven-tion on the Conservation of EuropeanWildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern, 1979)and the Guiding Principles for SustainableSpatial Development of the EuropeanContinent, define the Council of Europeswork on the fourth pillar of the Europeanedifice, to which I referred in my openingparagraph. The five instruments reflectone of the challenges facing the Council:with awareness of the common culturalheritage as a starting point, getting the fur-ther message across that the heritage rep-resents a store of regional skill andintelligence on which regional communi-ties can draw.

Jose-Maria BallesterDirector of Culture and the Cultural and

Natural HeritageCouncil of Europe

jose-maria.ballester@coe.int

The Council of Europes philosophy

JM B

run

et/

Su

nse

t

17n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

Landscape identification and assessmentand landscape quality objectivesIt is now unanimously recognised thatinvolving the public in shaping theirenvironment must be the rule in anyspatial planning policy. At least, thisis an aspiration of most of the regula-tions governing regional development.For around ten years now, it has beensupplemented by the concept of sus-tainable development, which meansdevelopment that can be reproducedin the long term, combined with fairsharing of natural resources. The Euro-pean Landscape Convention is one ofthose instruments that actually givepriority to social justice, sustainabledevelopment and public involvement.It also provides that the identificationand assessment of landscapes, whichis the first step towards harmoniousdevelopment among human beingsthemselves and between humanbeings and nature, must take accountof the input of the groups most directlyconcerned. But what does identifyingand assessing landscapes mean? Inthe nineteenth century, the approachwould have been to identify the mostpicturesque sites, in the manner of thetourism sector that catered for thewishes of Europes pleasure-seekingwealthy middle classes. Nowadays,the focus is no longer on such sitesbut, above all, on peoples living envi-ronments, in other words, the land-scapes they encounter in their dailylives or during leisure travel.

Accepting differencesThe challenge has changed totally, asit is now also recognised that land-scape does not mean the same thingto all people and that different valuesare attached to each particular land-scape by people who do not share thesame aspirations. This challenge is ona par with the difficulty of exercisingdemocracy in terms of accepting dif-ferences, appreciating what is uniqueor commonplace about other peopleand devising projects that have acommon purpose accepted by every-one. This is obviously not an easy chal-lenge. Firstly, it means that thesevalues, which actually reflect the per-ceptions that the various groupsconcerned have of the landscape intheir neighbourhoods, countries andhome areas, must be properly under-stood and situated in the local andoverall context in which they are

formed. This is because these valuesare not totally universal: they bothdepend on the internal relationshipswithin local society, whose tensionsthey reflect, and are marked by a land-scape culture that the countryconcerned has developed in the courseof its history. These local and nationalcultures intermingle and influence oneanother, shaping ways of conceivingthe landscape on a unique level. Whatis that level? Municipalities, neigh-bourhoods or regions? These twoconcerns raise the problems that haveto be resolved if a landscape is to beidentified and assessed at a given time,namely the level or area that makessense for a particular society and thevalues which that society attaches tothe landscape.

Questions remaining openThere remains the question of how toidentify these values. Who should per-form the task? The scientific and tech-nical community, or politicians? Ifobjectivity is to be guaranteed here,we need independent specialists fromthe social sciences such as geogra-phers, sociologists and anthropolo-gists. At the same time, it has to beaccepted that the work has a price,which society must bear, as it is boundto be offset by the benefits derivedfrom this method, which should helpavoid much more costly errors.The next stage is putting the knowl-edge into practice. Once the valueshave been identified, what can be done

to develop a programme of politicalaction incorporating both these newdata and all the data from other fieldssuch as the environment, economicsand so on? It is here that politicianshave a key role to play, instead of leav-ing it up to the experts to decide ontheir behalf, as is often the case. It isup to properly informed politicians todetermine the landscape quality objec-tives that are a means of integratingthese values in an action programmefor shaping the future of the landscapeconcerned in terms of whether itshould be protected, managed or devel-oped with a view to satisfying thelargest number of people possible.Nevertheless, this task must not beconfined to politicians alone, and thepublic must be given an opportunity toexpress their views so that the processis one of ongoing interaction betweenpoliticians and civil society. This is amajor challenge for the future of thelandscape and collective efforts toshape it, but it is well worth large-scaleaction involving properly thought-outand careful implementation of theEuropean Landscape Convention.

Yves LuginbhlUniversities of Paris 1, 8 and 10

Institut de Gographie191, rue Saint-Jacques

F 75005 Parisluginbuh@univ-paris1.fr

In the valley of Rostov-Veliky (Russian Federation)

Co

un

cil

of

Eu

rop

e

Th

ou

gh

ts

o

n la

nd

sc

ap

e

18 n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

T h o u g h t s o n l a n d s c a p e

History of art shows that landscapehas been a beloved subject of picto-rial study since the renaissance. Butthe awareness that landscape is some-thing that needs care has only recentlydeveloped. The self-evidence of thelandscapes as depicted by paintersuntil the twentieth century has givenway to a growing public concern for thequality of our European landscapesthat do not develop any more in a self-evident way. How can this concern betransformed into activities contribut-ing to a responsible planning and man-agement of landscapes?

Several layers of realityFollowing the philosopher Habermas,the concept of landscape includes sev-eral layers of reality: the true landscape as object can be

described and quantified in a cogni-tive and scientific way. It is thedomain of geographers and land-scape ecologists, integrating a widerange of natural sciences, and of civilengineers using this objective knowl-edge to guide their construction andmanagement activities in landscape;

the right landscape is the inter-subjective landscape on which wehave opinions and to which we canattribute values. It is beautiful ordegraded, depending on the criteriaas agreed upon within specific groupsrelated to the landscape. In fact theword landscape in its German (Land-schaft), Dutch (landschap) or Swedish

(landskap) expression refers to theorganisation of a group of inhabi-tants. The right landscape is thedomain of action groups and NGOs,but also of politicians. It is studiedby social scientists and forms thearena for those developing the socialconstructions that determine thefuture of the landscapes;

the real landscape is the subjectivelandscape with which we have a per-sonal connection, and which alwaysplays a role in the background whenspeaking about landscape. It is thelandscape of our youth or holidays,or the landscape in which we areready to invest our spare time inpractical involvement. It is describedby painters and historical geogra-phers, but is also the basis for ourpersonal behaviour in landscape andfor the artistic design of landscapearchitects.

Awareness-raising primarily concernsthe third dimension of landscape, thereal landscape, which has long beenneglected in science and policy. TheEuropean Landscape Conventionaddresses explicitly this dimension,taking objective and inter-subjectiveconcepts as starting points. Trainingand education in landscape appraisaland operations should consequentlyaddress all three dimensions.

The power of examplesMany examples already exist wherelocal communities have taken initia-

tive to organise landscape manage-ment. Region-specific products of agri-culture and local traditions appear toenhance the identification of inhabi-tants with their landscape. Visitorscentres and promotion campaignsattract tourists and thus enhance theeconomic basis for landscape devel-opment. But most effective is still theinvolvement of citizens in the opera-tions of maintenance and transfor-mation of landscape. Increasingly,these citizens will have an urban styleof life and feel responsibility for thedevelopment of landscape in a non-conventional way, since the traditionalagricultural basis of landscape forma-tion has, over large parts of Europe,lost its effectiveness. In awareness-raising, attention for the effects of land-scape degradation should always beaccompanied by examples of howlandscapes can develop their identityas living landscapes with region-specific values, carried by local communities.

The convention, a paradox?The European Landscape Conventionseems to be characterised by the inher-ent paradox of providing commonEuropean guidelines for a diversifiedmanagement of European landscapes.It is a challenge for those concernedwith the future of the European land-scapes, to bypass this paradox bystrongly encouraging facilitation fromabove and by enhancing involvementfrom the bottom-up: base targets for landscape develop-

ment on natural processes: knowyour true landscape;

develop awareness that landscapeidentity is and should be a reflectionof current cultural processes: discussthe right landscape in the local com-munity;

achieve quality in the landscape bypublic involvement: act in your ownreal landscape on the basis of co-ordinated personal concern.

Bas PedroliLandscape Ecology

P.O. Box 47NL 6700 AA Wageningen

b.pedroli@alterra.wag-ur.nl

Ebbe AdolfssonSwedish Environment Protection Agency

S 10648 Stockholmebbe.adolfsson@eniron.se

Landscape, a growing concern

B.

Lu

nd

be

rg/B

ios

Tourism enhances the economic basis for landscape development

D.

Bri

ng

ard

/Su

nse

t

Vrmland in Sweden

19n a t u r o p a N o . 9 8 / 2 0 0 2

In line with the definition of landscape,a multidisciplinary or, indeed, holisticapproach to landscape and hence alsoto each national landscape policy isthe key element of implementation ofthe European Landscape Convention.The integration of landscape consid-erations into all sectoral policies witha direct or indirect impact on land-scapes is a priority.An integrated policy comprises threemain aspects:

The horizontal aspect:the integration of landscapepolicy in sectoral policiesthrough the example of the Swiss Landscape ConceptThe basic principle of the Swiss Land-scape Concept is to foster dialoguebetween landscape users and natureand landscape conservationists. ASwiss government order issued in1997 requires the federal authoritiesresponsible for thirteen policy areasthat have an impact on spatial plan-ning and hence on the landscape to take account of objectives and land-scape measures specific to each policyarea. These objectives and measureswere negotiated in close co-operationbetween the Swiss Agency for theEnvironment, Forests and Landscapeand the federal government depart-ments and agencies responsible forthe respective policies on the basis ofa system of strategic objectives forthe management of nature and land-scape.

The vertical aspect:the example of fundingpolicies and the SwissLandscape Fund modelThis aspect derives from the princi-ple of subsidiarity. Funding grants areone of the most important tools forimplementing sectoral policies throughthe various tiers of government. Toolsfor checking consistency between poli-cies in the various sectors are there-fore essential. This objective can beachieved more easily if the relevantauthority takes account of the know-how of specialist environment agen-cies in each specific case. Thedevelopment of new financial incen-tive tools is a new approach for propermanagement and sustainable devel-opment of landscapes.

The Swiss Landscape Fund is involvedin conserving, maintaining and restor-ing traditional rural landscapes andtheir natural habitats. It only takesaction when no other body can help,for instance because of a lack of fundsor because of legal hurdles. The ben-eficiaries can be private individuals,associations or foundations, as wellas municipalities and regions. TheSwiss Landscape Funds approachincreases local and regional bodieswillingness to take initiatives them-selves. It also fosters synergy betweenfarming, tourism and traditional craftsand trades. Through its financial assis-tance, the fund provides welcomeregional economic aid that helps cre-ate employment in disadvantagedareas.

The cross-sectional aspect:the participatory approach the example of LandscapeDevelopment PlansThis approach takes account of thefact that the problems of an increas-ingly complex world involve new play-ers such as private, non-governmentalor semi-governmental organisationsand bodies, as well as more sponta-neous groupings. While the ideas andactivities of these new players offerhuge innovative and creative poten-tial, tools for capitalising on them arelacking.Landscape development plans out-line the desired development objec-tives for given landscapes on the basisof scenarios worked out in close co-operation by all interested parties.They therefore guarantee a compre-hensive approach to landscape. Thecentral element of landscape devel-opment plans is the bottom-upprocess involved in devising them.This brings together all the playersthat actively influence the areaconcerned, along with the people wholive there and other representativesof public and private interests. Thediscussions are chaired by profes-sionals with no personal ties in thearea, which guarantees the qualityand success of the process. Having alandscape development plan can bemost useful when it comes to defin-ing criteria or, indeed, priorities forimplementing specific policies at locallevel.

Andreas StalderMember of the Council of Europe committee

of experts charged with drafting theEuropean Landscape Convention

Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape

CH 3003 Bernandreas.stalder@buwal.admin.ch

For more information: www.cps.ch; www.fls-sfp.ch;Bote outils CEP (Landscape development plantoolbox), available from A.Maillard@srva.ch (in