Landscape Observatory
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
A landscape is an area, as perceived by the pubic, the character of which is the result of the dynamic interaction of natural factors - such as the relief, the rivers, the flora and fauna - and human factors - such as financial activities or historical heritage.
Why are landscapes important?
Why are landscapes important?
- Because the quality of life of people depends on them
- Because it reflects the good or ill health of the relationships between society and the land. It is an excellent indicator of environmental quality.
- Because it is another factor in well-being. The European Landscape Convention makes the quality of landscape into a right; the right to enjoy agreable, harmonious landscapes, not degraded, which transmit various cultural and territorial identities
- Because it offers pleasing sensations; aesthetic, sensory, emotional
- Because it identifies us with the land, with the country. Landscape is a reflction of past lifestyles and, specifically, our history, and thus it has value as part of our heritage.
This is how landscapes are defined by the Landscape Observatory; an advisory body of the Catalan Authorities and for awakening society to matters of landscape. It studies landscape, monitors it, prepares proposals and sensitises society to the appropiatness of better protection, management and planing of the landscape in Catalonia in the context of sustainable development.
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