Adapted, Resilient,

Biodiverse, and Multi-functional

LandscapesA realistic ambition?

Outline:•What is landscape?

•The challenge - the response

•A goods and services approach

•Managing change

•Commitments from Protected Landscapes

landscape is:•‘Landscapes are everywhere - They are the result of the interaction of natural (geology, landform, soils, climate and biodiversity) and cultural influences (historical and current land uses, settlement patterns and human interventions) and

•the relationship between PEOPLE and PLACE

the challenge:

•A lot of us living on a small island

•Food and energy security/ globalisation

•Climate change adaptation

•Maintaining distinctive & ‘functional’ landscapes

•Recognising & valuing “cultural services”

the response:•Understanding how landscapes and ecosystems support our everyday lives

•Identifying future trends – both risks and opportunities and

•Having a shared goal or vision for what we want to achieve pursuing programmes of integrated delivery

a goods & services approach?•Since the Millenium

Ecological Assessment see a shift to conceptualising ecosystems as providing goods and services that benefit people

•4 key services: Provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services

cultural services:

•Sense of History (or heritage)

•Sense of Place (identity, home)

•Inspiration (stimulus)

•Calm (relaxation, tranquillity)

•Leisure and Activities (recreation)

•Spiritual

•Learning (education)•Escapism (getting away from it all, stress relief)

No charge? Valuing the natural environment

no charge? • Sets out the contribution that nature makes

to our economy to ensure that its value is recognised

• An initial focus on Upland systems - exploring the multi-functional values of the uplands and setting our a future vision based on practical projects

• Up to 70 per cent of UK water supply is sourced from upland rivers, lakes and reservoirs and they are the largest carbon store in England – holding nearly 300 million tonnes. But soil erosion means up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 are being emitted per year from English peatlands

• Exmoor Mire Restoration project being run by the National Park, see: http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/mire

Protected Landscapes -

National Parks and Areas of Outstanding

Natural Beauty (AONB)

Higher level scheme

target areas

managing landscape change:

•Role of AONB/NP Management Plans to highlight the special qualities and the enduring significance of the Protected Landscapes and

•Present an integrated sustainable vision for the future of the Protected Landscapes as a whole in the light of national, regional and local priorities

debate the choices for landscape management:

•Business as usual

•Extensive agriculture

•Dichotomous countryside

•Balancing agriculture with other ecosystem services

business as usual:

•Drivers are short term, economic and regulatory

•Tends toward large scale, intensification and monocultures

•Decline in species diversity

•Little value and therefore little investment in natural capital

commitments:•AONBs/NPs committed to ensuring landscape value integrated into decision making

•Through Management Plans seeking to maintain and repair distinctive, biodiverse and multi-functional landscapes

•Adaptation & resilience key to future landscapes

weblinks:SWPL commitments for a sustainable future

see: http://www.southwestlandscapes.org.uk/CommissionedWorks.asp

AONB/NP Management Plan database see:

http://www.southwestlandscapes.org.uk/ManagementPlan09.asp