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//-->.pos {position:absolute; z-index: 0; left: 0px; top: 0px;}Gruehn D.Majchrowska A., 2010. What do we not know to implement the European Landscape Convention?The Problems of Landscape Ecology, Vol. XXVIII. 209–216.What do we not know to implementthe European Landscape Convention?Anna MajchrowskaUniversity ofŁódź,Department of Physical GeographyNarutowicza 88, 90-139Łódź,Polande-mail: majchrow@uni.lodz.plAbstract:The European Landscape Convention (ELC) is the first international convention to focus specifically onlandscape. Poland signed the ELC on 21 December 2001, ratified in September 2004, and the Convention came intoeffect on 1 January 2005. Since that moment, however, the ELC implementation efforts in our country have beenlimited.It is assumed that poor progress in the ELC implementation in Poland has been caused by insufficient knowledgeon what the ratification of the ELC implies and requires. The paper aims to explicate a number of key issues andassociated questions that can be identified in relation to the implementation process. Of primary importance is theexplanation of ELC`s principles, aims and measures, followed by the discussion on and clarification of conceptsused in the ELC.The paper may contribute to improvements in the implementation process in Poland by the identification of gaps in theknowledge on the ELC, with a view to stimulate the research in support of the implementation of the European Land-scape Convention.Key words:landscape, European Landscape Convention, landscape policy, landscape perception, land-scape qualityIntroductionOn 20 October 2010, we shall celebrate the 10th anniversary of the initial signing of the EuropeanLandscape Convention (ELC), the so called the Florence Convention, the first international agreementspecifically dedicated to landscape. This year (2010), there has been also the 5th anniversary of the entryinto force of the ELC in Poland. Poland signed the act on 21 December 2001, and after its ratification inSeptember 2004, the Convention came into effect on 1 January 2005. Since that moment, however, theELC implementation efforts in Poland have been limited.Both anniversaries present timely opportunity to assess the process of the ELC implementation and toidentify and discuss difficulties. What are the main factors impeding the progress? Do we not know orcomprehend the principles of the act, or may be we do not know how to put them into practice?209Majchrowska A.The general objective of this paper is to recognise and discuss gaps in the knowledge that areof critical importance to more efficient implementation of the ELC. The paper takes a Polish perspec-tive on the ELC implementation process, but some problems described here can occur throughoutEurope.Identification of major hindrances to the ELC implementation may influence landscape research, i.e. re-search oriented towards the solution of problems related to landscape (Tress, Tress 2001), including, butnot confined to, the landscape ecology area. By providing a stimulus to the research in support of theEuropean Landscape Convention, the success of the ELC may be easier to achieve.The paper is based mainly on the text of the ELC http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/176.htm) and also makes an extensive use of the Council of Europe documents, in particular of theExplanatory Report (http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Reports/Html/176.htm) and the guidelines for theimplementation of the European Landscape Convention (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/landscape/versionsorientation/anglais.pdf).What is the ELC and what does it require?The European Landscape Convention, adopted in Florence, Italy, on 20 October 2000, is the first inter-national convention to focus specifically on landscape. The ELC is an instrument of the Council of Europe,an international organisation whose main objective is to ensure respect for human rights, democraticdevelopment and the rule of law throughout the whole of the continent. The Council of Europe has pro-duced over 200 treaties and conventions in many areas, with its flagship document of the European Con-vention on Human Rights. The conventions of the Council of Europe seek to influence rather than direct,since, unlike the directives of the European Union, have no binding legal force. Their provisions are hon-oured by those states that sign or ratify them voluntarily.The ELC has been established by the Council of Europe to highlight the landscape as a holistic conceptand promote protection, management and planning of all European landscapes by means of a system ofmeasures on both national and European level. Its primary aim is “topromote landscape protection, man-agement and planning”(Article 3 of the ELC) in order to gain two wider main objectives: “individualandsocial well-being”and “sustainabledevelopment based on a balanced and harmonious relationship be-tween social needs, economic activity and the environment”(Preamble of the ELC). Each signatory stateis allowed to apply the Convention in individual way according to its own institutional organisation, andusing national tools and mechanisms to achieve the overall aims of the ELC.The basis for implementation of the European Landscape Convention is formulated in the ELC Articles5 and 6, which place on the signatory states obligations to:– recognise landscapes in law as an essential component of people’s surroundings– establish landscape policy and integrate landscape into all relevant policies-establish procedures forthe general public participation in matters related to landscape– identify and assess landscapes and define landscape quality objectives– educate and raise awareness of landscape issues among the public, organisations and authorities– foster international co-operation in landscape matters.Perhaps the most important difficulty to more efficient implementation of the ELC lies in the general ig-norance of its aims and measures. Since landscape is relatively a new topic on the European political210What do we not know...agenda and the ELC is one of nearly one thousand of multilateral international treaties signed by Poland(http://www.traktaty.msz.gov.pl/), there is a significant gap in our knowledge on the ELC`s basic principles,context, requirements and relevance.Confusion over definitionIt is crucial to realise why we do not know nor make known the ELC intent. The main reason for thatseems that “landscapeis a concept of multitude meanings”(Selman 2006), and therefore vagueness inmeaning of the term landscape – the focus of the Convention – makes the spread of the ELC problematicin general.Landscape as a scientific term has its origins in geography (Hartshorn 1939), and stemming from a divi-sion of the discipline into physical geography and human geography two main concepts of landscapedeveloped: landscape as physical-spatial entity and landscape as a socially- and culturally-determinedperception of the world.Currently, there are many definitions of landscape available, crossing a wide range of academic disci-plines, which results in some confusion over the senses of the word, both among professionals, whorepresent a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives on landscape, and the lay. Additionally, nowa-days the meaning of landscape is undergoing a period of profound change towards more integrative ap-proach that includes a number of overlapping dimensions of landscape: spatial-material, mental, temporal,combination of nature and culture, complex system (Tress, Tress 2001).The ELC promotes such a holistic concept of landscape, which is a novelty on a political scene, and de-fines landscape as “anarea, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and inter-action of natural and/or human factors’(Article 1 of the ELC). It leans towards landscape concepts origi-nating in human geography (Hartshorne 1939, Myga-Piątek 2001), and tries to reconcile them with thephysical-spatial reality of landscape in physical geography and landscape ecology (Forman, Godron 1986;Ostaszewska 2002; Richling, Solon 1996), as well as with the popular thinking of landscape as scenery.The ELC definition is centred on people and emphasises the significance of peoples` perception of anarea and interaction of nature and culture in making landscape.The concept of landscape, as defined in the ELC, is not compatible with the Polish legislation (Giedych2004, Majchrowska 2007). Actually, the term “landscape” is found in a number of laws (EnvironmentalProtection Act, Nature Conservation Act, Protection and Safekeeping of Historical Monuments Act, SpatialPlanning and Land Development Act) pertaining to various sectors: environment and nature protection,culture and national heritage, spatial planning and regional development, but there is no clear statementabout what that landscape is.The ELC definition of landscape rejects the traditional distinction between cultural and natural land-scape. This may pose difficulties for the ELC implementation, because natural and cultural aspects oflandscape are often seen as separate by law, including the Polish law (Giedych 2004, Majchrowska2007).Additionally the law gives emphasis to protection and conservation of environmental features or histori-cal monuments, whereas the main aim of the ELC, in line with the principal objectives of the Council ofEurope, is rather the improvement of the quality of life of the Europeans along with strengthening of localand regional democracy by involving people into decision-making on landscape.211Majchrowska A.All landscapes matterThe scope of ELC is not limited to a particular type of landscape, but it covers “natural,rural, urban andperi-urban areas”and “includesland, inland water and marine areas”(Article 2 of the ELC). The Conven-tion promotes the cultural significance and social values of all landscapes, and applies to ordinary “every-day” landscapes as well as outstanding and degraded ones, as all are the setting of peoples` lives, andaffect the quality of those lives.So far, a selective defence of outstanding types of landscapes, enjoying outstanding and acknowledgednatural or cultural features has been a typical practice, which may be exemplified by designations of WorldHeritage Sites by the UNESCO or protected areas by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The rest ofthe area has been implicitly left to a lesser quality control, which typically means that it has been subjectedto stronger human impact and change. Accordingly, if the Convention states that all landscapes matter, dowe have the methods to deal with all landscapes?A transition from a focus on landscapes recognised as outstanding to that based on quality of all living sur-roundings is accompanied by a new attitude to landscape change. The Convention accepts that change is acharacteristic of landscape, and landscapes have always changed and will continue to change, along withthe way that people live in the world, and during the course of natural processes. Instead of sole anxietyabout undesirable change, which is manifested by efforts to protect, conserve or even fossilise landscapesand their elements, the ELC generally promotes pro-active or adaptive behaviour towards landscapes, andproposes three kinds of activity for landscape: protection, management and planning.As stated in the Article 1 of the ELC:– “ ‘landscape protection’ means actions to conserve and maintain the significant or characteristic fea-tures of a landscape, justified by its heritage value derived from its natural configuration and/or fromhuman activity;– ’landscape management’ means action, from a perspective of sustainable development, to ensure theregular upkeep of a landscape, so as to guide and harmonise changes which are brought about bysocial, economic and environmental processes;– ’landscape planning’ means strong forward-looking action to enhance, restore or create landscapes”.In each area the balance between these three kinds of action will depend on the characteristic of thelandscape, on values assigned to the landscape by its citizens, and the agreed objectives for the future oflandscape (Explanatory report to the European Landscape Convention, n.d.).Identification and description of all landscapes, together with assessment of their values, is required bythe Article 6c of the ELC. Countrywide inventories and systematisation of landscapes have already beencarried out in a number of signatory countries, as well as in some non-signatory ones (Majchrowska2008). In Poland, we still lack a modern uniform landscape inventory (Badora 2009), a prerequisite to acomprehensive factual knowledge of landscapes that could serve as a sound basis for long-term policyand action for landscapes.“An area, as perceived by people” and public participationThe phrase “‘landscape’ means an area, as perceived by people”(Article 1a) puts the focus on humanexperience of landscape and highlights the innovative aspect of the ELC that landscapes not only aredynamic physical realities, but also “aproduct of peoples` perception”(Fairclough 2002).212What do we not know...With respect to landscape change, one can infer that it comprises both change of physical (human andenvironmental) constituents and perceptual aspects of landscape. These two elements of landscapechange can be independent and, more importantly, change in perception can be unrelated to physicalchange.The great challenge addressed in the ELC is to manage landscape change so that to achieve the land-scapes that people want. But the way landscape is perceived and valued changes in time and space, andvaries according to the social groups or their cultural models. How to harmonise people’s many, oftencontradictory and shifting perceptions of their landscapes and translate them into adequate actions? Ac-cording to the ELC, the right answer is to democratise landscape by involving people into all stages of thedecision-making processes by which landscape is changed, protected and managed.The idea of the people’s aspirations and preferences for their surroundings is crucial for the implemen-tation of the ELC, and is reflected in “landscape quality objectives”, which“means, for a specific land-scape, the formulation by the competent public authorities of the aspirations of the public with regard tothe landscape features of their surroundings”(Article 1c).Research on landscape quality objectives is at its initial stage in Poland, and the first output was pre-sented by B. Sowińska and T.J. Chmielewski (2007). The authors used a questionnaire to gather in-formation on various social groups` opinions on natural and cultural features to be protected and pre-served in the landscape of the Roztocze and the Solska Forest Biosphere Reserve (SE Poland). Theresearch already revealed discrepancy between population’s expectation and the actual managementof the area.Research should investigate social and personal perceptions of landscape and factors influencing them,including the relation between the perception and physical elements of landscape.The ELC insists on increased participation of the general public, and in particular of local population invarious stages of decision making in landscape related matters (Enengel, Penker n.d.). Actually, the in-volvement should start with a phase of identification and evaluation of landscapes and establishing land-scape quality objectives, and finally include development and delivery of landscape policies.In Poland, public participation procedures have been evolving in order to adjust to the EU legal regula-tions. Law enactment alone does not instantly create new social behaviour and good practice of publicparticipation or eradicate habits that had formed over years (Kasprzyk et al. 2007). There are at presentno mechanisms for ongoing involvement of stakeholders in decision-making, where landscape is specifi-cally concerned. Public participation is guaranteed in spatial planning that sets out a framework to co-ordinate the interaction of different policies and actions across space, which directly impacts landscapes.Various questions concerning efficient public participation in landscape related matters, including thedifficulties and consequences of the public involvement, have appeared in many signatory countries(Jones, Stenseke, forthcomming).DiscussionThe ELC`s main innovative messages are that landscape is culturally-determined way of perceiving theworld, there is no place in the world that means nothing to all, thereby all landscapes matter, and land-scape change is unavoidable. This is a new approach to landscape on the European political scene.Nowadays protective attitude towards landscapes receives significant attention, but anxiety about land-scape change is a cultural construct and, as such, one day may be replaced by other approaches. There-213[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]