Sustainable Landscape Management and Planning

Ivo Machar

doi:10.3390/su12062354

Abstract

Dynamic changes of landscape structure affect the abundance and distribution of organisms. Currently, changing land-use is one of the major forces altering ecosystem services in landscapes globally. Human activities are transforming land at a faster rate and greater extent than at any time in history. This is a perspective challenge for research in the field of emerging sustainability science. The human conversion of natural habitats and land use change is not only a local/regional phenomenon but can be considered as one of important global change drivers. Some of the impacts of global change on biodiversity can be studied only at the landscape scale, such as the climate change-induced shift of vegetation zones. A landscape perspective fosters a multi-scale approach to sustainable landscape management and landscape planning. Additionally, a landscape scale is very useful for the innovative application of the common management paradigm to multiple uses in agriculture, forestry and water resource management. The need for sustainable landscape management and planning is now obvious. Landscape conservation seems to be a new paradigm for the conservation of biodiversity. This Special Issue (SI) of the Sustainability journal is focused on building a bridge between scientific theory and the practice of landscape management and planning based on the application of sustainability as a key conceptual framework. Papers dealing with various theoretical studies and case studies of the best practice for sustainable landscape management and planning across diverse landscapes around the world are included.

Highlights

Landscapes over the world are diverse and play a crucial role in our lives
Human activities are transforming land at a faster rate and greater extent than at any time in history; for example, the global network of protected areas faces strong human impacts [3], which are reflected at the regional scale in the decrease of the effectiveness iof conservation efforts aimed at the maintenance of natural habitats [4]
The need for sustainable landscape management and planning is obvious. This Special Issue (SI) of the Sustainability journal is focused on building a bridge between scientific theory and the practice of landscape management and planning based on the application of sustainability as a key conceptual framework

Summary

Introduction

Landscapes over the world are diverse and play a crucial role in our lives. Historical land-use changes have significantly affected the abundance and distribution of biota on the landscape scale [1]. Human activities are transforming land at a faster rate and greater extent than at any time in history; for example, the global network of protected areas faces strong human impacts [3], which are reflected at the regional scale in the decrease of the effectiveness iof conservation efforts aimed at the maintenance of natural habitats [4]. The human conversion of natural habitats and land use change is a local/regional phenomenon but can be considered as one of the important drivers of global change.

Results

Conclusion