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An essay is presented on sustainable landscape. It mentions the significance of sustainable landscape in several aspects, particularly in economic development, society, and aesthetics. In addition, it highlights its relevance in ecosystem, human welfare, and even to health. The author also elucidates the integration of environmental sustainability to sustainable landscaping.

Landscape-scale mapping is becoming more widely used as an approach to identifying ‘characteristic’ units of countryside for information gathering and policy delivery purposes. A number of innovative approaches currently being developed and applied in Britain are reviewed. The justifications for producing these methods, as reflected in published sources, are analysed. Interviews with selected professionals, who identify various benefits for more effective policy delivery, integrated planning, partnership formation and public engagement, are reported on. Most of the approaches also override administrative boundaries, which enables a more naturalistic reflection of environmental systems, whilst also creating some political difficulties. Other problems are associated with cost and subjectivity. Overall, the methods are likely to improve joined-up rural decision making, but further research into their effectiveness is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity planners increasingly recognise the need for delivering action on a ’wider countryside’, rather than on a purely site-centred, basis. Ecological processes often take place at the ’landscape scale’ and are not sufficiently accommodated within reserves, and a failure to reflect this in biodiversity planning has been one of the contributors to species and habitat decline. However, there are generally few powers to enforce compliance with spatial rural land-use strategies, and biodiversity plans at the landscape scale must rely heavily on incentives, advice and goodwill. Not surprisingly, this results in a substantial gap between policy and implementation. One way of analysing the causes of and potential solutions to, implementation failure is to examine the barriers to plan uptake. This paper addresses barriers to biodiversity action in three case-study areas in terms of ’force fields’, depicting the nature and strength of negative and positive influences on land managers and conservation staff. It is concluded that a clearer understanding of the nature of ’barriers’ can lead to improved targeting on potential ’bridges’ to a better future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines a case of local sustainability planning development in Great Britain. Emergence of a vision-driven super-network from its beginnings as an informal network space associated with the nature conservation forum; Characteristics and nature of the actor-network theory; Processes involved in the transformation into a vision-driven network.

ABSTRACT Approaches to biodiversity and catchment planning increasingly recognize the importance of the `wider countryside` rather than the more site-specific focus of traditional environmental management programmes. Biodiversity depends on the viability of ecosystems across the whole countryside, and not only in designated reserves; equally, the quantity and quality of inland waters reflect overall conditions within river catchments, as well as the hydrological conditions of specific river channels. However, planning of these wider areas involves partnerships and agreements between a range of actors, which generally must be negotiated on a consensual basis and are vulnerable to subsequent dissent. This paper examines the actor-networks which have arisen in some innovative examples of `wider countryside` planning and assesses their durability and contribution to the attainment of environmental objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the Local Agenda 21 to promote sustainable development at the municipal level in Great Britain. Progress on strategy production and adoption; Case studies; Nature of claims made in relation to sustainability networks; Role of local government.

Focuses on the motivations and perceptions of participants in Local Agenda 21, the principal means of addressing sustainable development practice at the local government level in Great Britain. Placement of emphasis on the need for participatory processes and innovative policy options; Holistic approach to quality of life concerns; Legitimacy of local government as a key player in sustainable development.

Abstract: The designation of tracts of land for nature and landscape conservation has been a mainstay of countryside policy. However, its continued relevance in the light of policy trends towards sectoral and spatial integration has been questioned. Focusing principally on experience in the United Kingdom, this review considers the impact and effectiveness of designations from a number of perspectives. It concludes that, whilst on balance they remain broadly fit for purpose and good value for money, they will increasingly need to be embedded in land use strategies which are more responsive to changing social needs and environmental conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]