The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
or even to the UK – it is particularly acute when it occurs in landscapes that are supposed to be
nationally protected. But without external support, traditional farming cannot survive and its
wider benefits to society will be lost.
Various programmes, often supported through European Union (EU) funding, have been
developed to support traditional land management that is compatible with the protection of
wildlife, landscape and heritage, and encourages public access. Increasingly, too, farming in
such areas aims to secure added value to products through an emphasis on quality, marketing
and branding.
Similar innovations occur in the forestry sector. Thus the planting of extensive coniferous
monoculture is a thing of the past: the trend is towards support for traditional woodland
practices, restoring and expanding native woodlands. Though these changes have been led by
government or EU-funded agricultural and forestry programmes, the agencies responsible for
the management of the Protected Landscapes have also been closely involved.
Conclusions
The UK’s Category V protected areas represent a cross-section of the country’s finest land -
scapes, but include, too, a cross-section of rural society. The diversity of approaches around the
UK shows how adaptive the Category V approach can be in dealing with conservation aims, but
also with social and economic ones – and doing so whilst also securing resources and
commitment for the management of many of the UK’s most important natural and cultural
heritage areas.
But these areas do not stand apart and must be linked to the rest of society. So, while the
historic purposes of landscape protection, recreation and access remain as relevant now as 50
years ago, the UK is especially keen to share its experience as it tries to re-design Category V
protected areas to be:
models of sustainable development, integrating economic, social and environmental
aims, and contributing to global environmental protection;
exemplars of sustainable land use practices, showing how alternative economic activity
can also sustain the areas’ viability and vitality; and
relevant to society as a whole – thereby bringing wider social inclusive benefits.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to The Council for National Parks, a national charity that works to protect and
promote the National Parks of England (www.cnp.org.uk), in allowing the use of material
contained within this chapter originally prepared for the World Parks Congress, 2003.
130