Although there are many other definitions of landscape, most share the idea that landscape is a meeting ground between: nature and people; past and present; and tangible and intangible values.  A landscape is important therefore not just as a scenic place, but as a model of sustainable resource use; for the wildlife habitats it contains; its cultural and historic heritage; as the ‘outward face’ of a living culture; and as the basic resource for soft economic activities, such as tourism. It is also becoming more relevant to the quality of life both as an environmental resource in its own right, and as a medium through which sustainable development polices can be pursued and assessed.

Torrent Walk, Dolgellau

Despite the importance of landscapes, they have in contrast to nature conservation been neglected in global and European fora until quite recently. The reasons for an international approach to nature conservation are obvious. Many birds and marine species migrate and their protection requires countries to co-operate. Pollution that threatens wildlife knows no borders. All these circumstances clearly demand an international response.

Landscape is however different and a more difficult concept. Precisely because it is a meeting ground, no single profession owns it, and none alone can champion its cause. Instead work on landscape requires input from geologists, ecologists, archaeologists, landscape architects, geographers, local historians and many more. Moreover landscape is often culturally contested: an Australian Aboriginal will see in the landscape of the ‘outback’ very different qualities to those perceived by an Australian of European origin. Furthermore, the values of landscape are hard to quantify and to agree. For these reasons, landscape has until recently, been seen essentially as a matter for national action and emerged late onto the international agenda.

Outlooks are however changing. Travel and improved communications of all kinds are encouraging an awareness of a common heritage of rich and diverse landscapes. It is now evident that – as with the conservation of biodiversity – the landscapes of Europe are under threat from agriculture, trade, climate change and insensitive development, all of which require an international policy response.

There have been several responses to this growing interest in landscape at the international level, not the least the adoption of the Cultural Landscapes category in the classification of World Heritage sites. In 1994, IUCN revised its international system for categorising protected areas, giving more prominence to landscape protection. The adoption of the Pan-European Biodiversity and Landscape Diversity Strategy by Europe’s Environment Ministers in 1995 was further evidence of the emergence of landscape as a topic for international agreement and action./p>

European Landscape Convention
But it was the adoption of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), the world’s first landscape treaty on 20 October 2000 in Florence, Italy and its ratification on March 1st this year, that really marked the ‘coming of age’ of landscape at the European level2. Despite its name the European Landscape Convention is not a measure taken by the European Union, nor does it only apply to the countries of the existing or enlarged EU. It applies to any country of Europe that wishes to ratify the treaty.

The primary view of the Convention is that landscape should be :

• Democratic and acknowledged as an important part of the quality of life of people everywhere.
   
• Participatory, and places where people are encouraged to play an active part in their care and development;
   
• Inclusive, embracing all different kinds of landscapes, from the finest scenery to those affected by damaging development, from the least-altered environments to towns and cities;.of an urban character;
   
• Regarded as a dynamic resource, with change occurring Realistic, place where where it will bring sustainable benefits to the human environment and subject to a conscious process of management; and change should take place but in manner which is guided ;
   
• Treated as International, requiring Europe-wide action, in support of national efforts.

Despite its the obvious importance of the Convention, the UK still remains only one of a small group of four EU countries (the others being include Austria, Germany and the Netherlands) not to have signed the Convention. This is curious, as the UK has been one of its the pioneers of work on landscape since the late 1980s, and individual UK experts played a leading role in developing the detail of its agreed text. This reluctance on the part of the UK to sign and ratify the Convention, appears to based on a fear held by some civill servants in DEFRA and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (England’s Planning ministry) that in some way the UK’s economic prospects will be adversely affected by becoming a party to the treaty.

Mawddach Estuary

This fear seems badly misplaced, as the treaty will not have the kind of allegedly intrusive or regulatory impact of an EC Directive. While some see this as a weakness, in reality the more ‘gentle’ approach that the European Landscape Convention incorporates, with its emphasis on encouraging higher standards of landscape protection, management and planning nationally, is much more suited to work in this field.

So signing the European Landscape Convention will not cause a revolution in land use planning, nor will it freeze development. Quite the contrary. Standing aside from the rest of Europe will therefore be seen as a statement of how little importance the Government attach to landscape issues. Signing up to the Convention will however give positive encouragement to public policy at national and local levels. In particular it will:

• l help promote a higher profile for landscape in planning policy and practice;
   
• l encourage better integration of landscape into all sectors, especially sustainable development work;
   
• l help focus attention on the qualities and potential of all landscapes (not just “best”);
• l reinforce the value of our system of protected landscapes (National Parks, AONBs and National Scenic Areas)
   
• l encourage the use of robust landscape assessment techniques (e.g. LANDMAP); and l provide a stimulus for teaching and research about the landscape.

Signing the Convention also provides the UK with scope to share experience with others in Europe. Although much excellent work is being done throughout the UK on landscape, not least in Wales, more can be learnt from others in Europe who are also working on landscape protection, management and planning.

The opportunity to strengthen the links with others in the field of landscape should not be shunned, but seized.