Editorial annex: key findings and recommendations from the HERCULES research project, and the need for a landscape approach to enviromental governance

Abstract

This paper derives from the work of the EU-funded HERCULES (HERitage in CULtural landscapES) research project 2013–2016, which explored how future policy might respond better to the drivers, dynamics, actors, and values of European landscapes. It summarises the key findings from the project, together with its recommendations for landscape policy and practice and for science policy and further research. The paper then discusses the concept of an integrated ‘Landscape Approach’ in the context of environmental governance generally. The HERCULES findings suggest that this concept is important in analysing, formulating, and implementing policy, because it provides a holistic approach that incorporates diverse stakeholder perspectives to address landscape changes in an appropriate manner. The paper sets out some of the more detailed recommendations of the HERCULES project about harmonising EU policies in an ELC-centred and culturally informed landscape framework, based on understanding landscape character and (most importantly) civil society participation, to implement the approach.