Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

Several European Union (EU) and national institutions published reports demanding full attention for the deteriorating and vanishing European landscapes. It was discovered that farmers are neither paid nor educated for landscape production. In the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP), the objectives have been extended to include the landscape production that inevitably goes along with agricultural production. The EU Concerted Action, “Landscape and nature production capacity of organic/sustainable types of agriculture” (AIR3-CT93-1210) aimed at identifying and validating agro-landscape features that are important for the assessment of planning and management. Agro-landscape standards should help to keep the quality of rural areas on an acceptable level (prevention), or to restore them to the desired quality level. The chapter discusses various aspects and approaches to achieve the objectives of sustainable land management.