European Landscape Convention

Editor's note 21Mar13: Source D141 (common sections), D241, D341.

Status and aims

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) was opened for signature by the member states of the Council of Europe in Florence on 20 October 2000 and entered into force on 1 March 2004. Its adoption followed to the Mediterranean Landscape Charter, covering portions of Spain, France and Italy, and the proposals for European-level agreement by a group of experts under the aegis of the Cultural Heritage Committee and the Committee for the activities of the Council of Europe in the area of biological and landscape diversity.

To date, 35 Parties have ratified the convention, including Greece, Italy and Spain. Each Party is to adopt a number of national measures while keeping with the principle of subsidiarity and assigning responsibility to the most appropriate level of government.

The convention is the first to deal directly and comprehensively with European landscapes and is part of the Council of Europe's work on natural and cultural heritage, spatial planning, environment and local self-government, seeking to achieve sustainable development by balancing social, environmental and economic needs.

The Convention aims to address the observable landscape deterioration occurring throughout Europe and, as a response, promote landscape protection, management and planning and organise European co-operation on landscape issues. More specifically, the ELC strives to increase the adoption of policies and measures for protecting, managing and planning all landscapes. Inherent in the convention's aims is the need to integrate landscape activities into political discussions and increase participation in related decision-making processes by utilizing multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral approaches.

A further objective is to enhance the recognition of the cultural significance and social value of landscapes through awareness raising and information exchange. The convention also aims to improve human material well-being, highlighting the link with agriculture, the main activity affecting rural European landscapes.

Structure

The convention consists of a preamble and four main sections: Chapter I (objectives and scope; key definitions), Chapter II (national level measures), Chapter III (basis for European cooperation, international level measures, role of Committees responsible for monitoring implementation aspects), and Chapter IV (procedures for adopting the convention; related matters). Parties retain to the right to decide on legal arrangements and other means order to fulfil their obligations.

Several instruments are proposed so as to implement landscape policies: landscape planning; inclusion of the landscape in sectoral policies and instruments; shared charters, contracts, strategic plans; impact and landscape studies; protected sites and landscapes; resources and financing; landscape awards; trans-frontier landscapes; landscape observatories, centres and institutes; and reports on the state of the landscape and related policies.

Human and financial resources should be designated by public authorities and can be specifically earmarked or come from other sectors given that landscape considerations are introduced into the policies of other sectors.

Implementation

Contracting Parties undertake the implementation of national level measures including:

• awareness raising
• training and education
• identification and evaluation
• setting landscape quality objectives; and
• implementation of landscape policies.

Regarding the last element, Parties are to introduce specific legal, administrative, fiscal or financial instruments to fulfil the objectives outlined by the convention. Moreover, Parties agreed to cooperate internationally by providing technical and scientific assistance and exchanging landscape specialists for training and information.

The Convention has contributed to a recognition of landscape issues by the wider public, the progressive inclusion of the landscape in the political agendas of governments as well as the emergence of new forms of cooperation between different governance levels.

However, beyond its contribution to increased awareness of landscape considerations, the European Landscape Convention has had relatively limited effects and is faced with significant institutional hurdles and resource limitations in order to concretely embed landscape considerations in spatial planning, sustainable development and LEDD mitigation processes.

Relevance to LEDD

The inclusion of all landscapes distinguishes this Convention from more focused policies, highlighting the potential negative effects that developments in agriculture, forestry and industrial production techniques could evoke, thereby indirectly referencing the potential to and importance of mitigating LEDD processes.

Despite its limitations, the Convention provides an opportunity for action and change within the area of LEDD and holds great potential for landscape management:

• the ELC prioritises cropland in terms of its implications for human well-being and its large spatial distribution across rural Europe. In this context, it covers both agri-environmental considerations and aesthetic requirements, which can also serve to halt land degradation processes.
• Although grazing land is not explicitly mentioned in the ELC, actions to preserve and maintain the ecological integrity of this type of landscape albeit for aesthetic or other reasons could positively contribute to halting LEDD.
• The ELC has significant potential to address LEDD in forests/shrublands through increased support of afforestation measures and the upholding of aesthetic requirements, which can serve to halt land degradation processes such as erosion. Furthermore, increased awareness of the multifunctionality of forests would help to unify economic, ecological and aesthetic objectives.

The ELC alone will not be sufficient to make significant progress in combating LEDD. However, increased awareness of the importance of landscape can also impact other sectoral policies and evoke further concrete actions.

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