Rural Landscapes

Working Group members:

Ada Papanakli – Chair, Rural Landscapes Working Group; PHALA Greece
Francesca Neonato – Co-Chair, Rural Landscapes Working Group; AIAPP Italy
Merrick Denton-Thompson – Fellow, Landscape Institute (LI), United Kingdom; Past President of the Landscape Institute
Manuel Sánchez Hernández – AEP Spain
Lena Athanasiadou – President, PHALA Greece
Linus Fredriksson – Vice President for Communications, IFLA Europe; Sweden
Fríða Björg Eðvarðsdóttir – FILA Iceland
Paula Simões – Vice President for Professional Practice, IFLA Europe; APAP Portugal
Carlos Correia Dias – President, APAP Portugal
Tatjana Dimitrijevic – Institute of Forestry, Serbia
Carolin Göhler – Chartered Landscape Architect and Horticulturist, United Kingdom
Lionel Fanshawe – BA DipLA, FLI (Retired), FRGS, FRSA, United Kingdom
Y. Bulut Şengör – Landscape Architecture Student; ELASA Representative, Türkiye

Objectives:

Promote the profession of landscape architects at EU level, especially in the European Commission, raise the overall awareness of competences of landscape architects related to Agricultural Landscapes and GIAHS, while fulfilling the strategic aims of the EU;
Make European inventory of agricultural heritage systems according to GIAHS guidelines; Investigate and promote the submission of potential GIAHS sites all over in Europe
Create an information leaflet on on Agricultural Landscapes and GIAHS importance, first to increase awareness of landscape architects and eventually of a larger public;
Share knowledge about EU policies concerning Agricultural Landscapes and GIAHS, with a specific focus on the EU Conservation Agriculture (EIP-AGRI), the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the Farm to Fork strategy as core topic of the European Green Deal, in order to raise the awareness about the value of rural landscapes as material and immaterial heritage and improving their planning and designing;
Represent landscape architecture as a profession at relevant scientific, professional and awareness raising events dedicated to Agricultural Landscapes and GIAHS, both nationally and internationally.

“Caring for Agricultural Landscapes”

IFLA Europe leaflet prepared by the IFLA EU Agricultural Landscapes Working Group, published on 22 July 2021.

Agriculture covers 175 million hectares of Europe and shapes the landscape like no other activity. Diverse in every aspect, agriculture has affected ecology, the environment, culture and history, politics and economics, and in return, has been affected by them.

Agri-Cultural landscapes have emerged over centuries reflecting Europe’s history. Dynamic conservation strategies and processed allow biodiversity and essential ecosystem services to be maintained thanks to continuous innovation, transfer between generations and exchange with other communities and ecosystems. The wealth and breadth of accumulated knowledge and experience in the management and use of resources is a globally significant treasure that needs to be promoted, conserved and allowed to evolve.

Agricultural Landscape, when is sustainably cultivated, is an expression of human biodiversity linked to a wider concept of biodiversity, the result of a co-evolution process between man and nature.

For full leaflet please visit IFLA Europe leaflet “Caring for Agricultural Landscapes”

GIAHS - Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)

GIAHS is a FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) Global Partnership Initiative on conservation and adaptive management. The programme is based on the search for economic viability of the system, the identification of environmentally sustainable strategies in the face of growing climate change, and the empowerment of small holder/traditional family farming and indigenous communities.

The resilience of many GIAHS sites has been developed and adapted to cope with climatic variability and change, i.e. natural hazards, new technologies and changing social
and political situations, so as to ensure food and livelihood security and alleviate risk. Dynamic conservation strategies and processes allow maintaining biodiversity and essential ecosystem services thanks to continuous innovation, transfer between generations and exchange with other communities and ecosystems. The wealth and breadth of accumulated knowledge and experience in the management and use of resources is a globally significant treasure that needs to be promoted and conserved and, at the same time, allowed to evolve.