A presentation of the challenges of European rural landscape management, exploring alternatives that incorporate place-based approaches.

European rural landscapes as we experience them today are the result of ongoing processes and interactions between nature and society. These are changing fast: the future landscapes will be different from those we know currently. Written for academics, policy-makers and practitioners, this book is the first to explore the complex histories of rural landscapes in Europe as a basis for their sound governance in future. Tensions between the needs of agricultural spaces driven by economic incentives and a variety of non-agricultural functions are explored to demonstrate current challenges and the shortfalls in the policies that address them. Using inspiring case studies that highlight the roles of regional agents and communities, the authors go further than the usual analyses to illustrate the importance of local context. Written by experts currently working to revitalise the rural landscapes of Europe, the text concludes with suggestions for improving landscape policy and planning practice.

This book compiles available knowledge of the response of mountain ecosystems to recent climate and land use change and intends to bridge the gap between science, policy and the community concerned. The chapters present key concepts, major drivers and key processes of mountain response, providing transdisciplinary orientation to mountain studies incorporating experiences of academics, community leaders and policy-makers from developed and less developed countries. The book chapters are arranged in two sections. The first section concerns the response processes of mountain environments to climate change. This section addresses climate change itself (past, current and future changes of temperature and precipitation) and its impacts on the cryosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and human-environment systems. The second section focuses on the response processes of mountain environments to land use/land cover change. The case studies address effects of changing agriculture and pastoralism, forest/water resources management and urbanization processes, landscape management, and biodiversity conservation. The book is designed as an interdisciplinary publication which critically evaluates developments in mountains of the world with contributions from both social and natural sciences.

This volume had its origins in an international symposium organised by the Cold Regions Research Centre, and held at Wilfrid Laurier University in November, 1999. The chapters are modified from a selection of the papers at the meeting, and reflect reviews and revisions in light of discussions then. The original idea for the meeting was to address certain questions that the organisers were encountering in their own work, and that we felt had received limited attention in the recent literature. The two broad issues we wanted to address were: the complex associations of actual landforms and processes in cold regions, and how the almost universal legacies of past, different cold environments of the late Quaternary affect these landscapes in the present. The former involves the problem of identifying landform and sediment complexes, and the interrelations of relevant processes. We sought to identify this in terms oflandform and sediment assemblages appropriate to regional and field-oriented concerns.

Wood-pastures are important elements of European cultural identity and have an exceptional ecological value, yet they are in decline all over Europe. The structure of wood-pastures is strongly influenced by grazing and multiple other land uses and by local and regional environmental conditions. This book examines the diverse expressions of wood-pastures across Europe. It provides a new perspective, using a social-ecological framework to explore social and ecological values, governing institutions, threats and conservation approaches. It explores the major drivers of decline, which are shown to be related to accelerated cultural, institutional and developmental changes occurring across Europe over the past century. Case studies are included from North-Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe. Written by renowned scholars and conservationists, the book contributes to developing better, locally adapted conservation policies and management approaches for wood-pastures.

Agrarian transformations represent the most pervasive alteration of the Earth's terrestrial environment over the past 10,000 years. Using North American examples, the book traces, compares, and contrasts the introduction, spread, and abandonment of agriculture at six U.S. long-term ecological research (LTER) sites. Indeed, lessons from these examples apply more broadly to inform socio-ecological studies, land use options, conservation strategies, restoration initiatives, and urban planning.

This open access book presents and discusses current issues and innovative solution approaches for land management in a European context. Manifold sustainability issues are closely interconnected with land use practices. Throughout the world, we face increasing conflict over the use of land as well as competition for land. Drawing on experience in sustainable land management gained from seven years of the FONA programme (Research for Sustainable Development, conducted under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), the book stresses and highlights co-design processes within the “co-creation of knowledge”, involving collaboration in transdisciplinary research processes between academia and other stakeholders. The book begins with an overview of the current state of land use practices and the subsequent need to manage land resources more sustainably. New system solutions and governance approaches in sustainable land management are presented from a European perspective on land use. The volume also addresses how to use new modes of knowledge transfer between science and practice. New perspectives in sustainable land management and methods of combining knowledge and action are presented to a broad readership in land system sciences and environmental sciences, social sciences and geosciences. This book received the Gerd Albers Award. The prize is awarded by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).