Conservation planning within a framework of landscape planning in Slovenia

Abstract

Within the landscape planning practice, three approaches of the environmental protection or conservation activity can be distinguished: definition of the land reserves, environmental impact assessments and vulnerability analyses. These three approaches are used in different administrative, social, and professional contexts, although they are oriented towards the same protection or conservation goals and they share the same basic conceptions. The three approaches demonstrate positive aspects as well as some drawbacks. To understand their real nature it is essential to see them as special steps in a planning process. The latter is represented, in this case, by a rational problem-solving paradigm. Protection through reserves can be defined as planning ‘in advance’ like the definition of environmental protection standards. The environmental impact assessment enters the planning process at its end after the solutions have already been formulated, thus it operates ex post. The vulnerability analyses represent a part of the solution-searching procedure within the planning process. The three approaches demonstrate different attitudes towards the planning alternatives. The first one totally ignores them. The second one is limited to the alternatives that come out of the planning process, which by definition, does not consider conservation requirements. It normally assesses a restricted number of alternatives. The third one investigates the entire field of possible solutions. The alternatives are the most fundamental issue in the conservation activity because they represent the only possible way for resolution of many conflict situations.