Top-down and bottom-up initiatives for the Walloon landscapes and their inhabitants

Abstract

Landscape protection implies selecting values for preservation and legitimising specific interests while potentially excluding others. Literature on landscape protection recognises the need to move beyond the expert-dominated conservationist paradigm. Based on an analysis of laws, decrees, charters, web documents and semi-structured interviews, this research examines the processes and results of public involvement in landscape protection in Wallonia. While ‘democratisation’ of the landscape gains ground in institutional protection tools, citizen initiatives are mostly carried by only a few inhabitants or isolated groups and wield limited influence in the decision making process. Nonetheless, citizens’ groups increasingly invoke landscape interest in local initiatives, expressing a desire to share their values and develop local projects. This observation underlines a gap in participation processes. Rights and responsibilities of the population depend not only on their place in the decision-making process but also on their interests and attitudes towards their landscapes.