David North, Head of
People and Wildlife
How does a Living Landscape approach differ from traditional nature conservation approaches?
I, like many
of the staff and volunteers at Norfolk Wildlife Trust, am struggling to develop
a deeper understanding of A Living Landscape approach to wildlife
conservation. Is this really an
important new paradigm for conservation, or is it just a buzzword, a new bit of
conservation jargon that has little real long-term significance? This post, and
my previous ones on Living Landscapes, are sharing with you the development of
my personal thinking about the implications of this new approach to protecting
wildlife.
So is there
really much difference between a traditional nature conservation approach and a
Living Landscape approach? This may perhaps seem like stating the obvious but
one difference is that a traditional nature conservation approach has focused
on the acquisition of nature reserves, and the protection of rare species,
whereas a Living Landscape approach focuses on the possibility for enhancing
and creating large multi-functional landscapes which benefit both people and
wildlife.
In the past
nature conservation in Norfolk and the UK has focused primarily on the
protection of areas of land as nature reserves either by purchase or
management. Often the focus for the acquisition of these reserves has been the
presence of rare species. Usually the
management of these reserves and the species they support is only sustained by
large inputs of resources, such as staff time on habitat management, which can
only be delivered by inputs of money and resources generated off site. In this
narrow sense few reserves are sustainable without external resources to support
them.
A Living
Landscape approach is not simply about making nature reserves bigger and
better, undoubtedly a worthwhile aim in itself.
In Norfolk, and indeed lowland England, even bigger and better reserves
will still be too few, too small and too isolated to protect biodiversity as
climate changes. Wildlife populations will need to move across landscape scale
areas to adapt to changing conditions.
The resources to apply a nature reserve approach on a landscape scale
given current and future land prices and management costs simply are too
great. There are not sufficient
resources, even if this was desirable, to turn whole landscapes into nature
reserves whose primary function is the protection of rare and threatened
species. Nor, in highly populated England where most land areas are farmed,
settled or developed for any number of human uses, is there space for this to
be possible Any truly landscape scale approach will need to be multi-functional.
The challenge
of creating Living Landscapes is to create sustainable, multi-functional
landscapes that as well as providing for human needs are better able than
existing landscapes to deliver biodiversity benefits. This is where the ecosystem services approach
becomes relevant, as the challenge is to enable landscapes to develop which
deliver better water quality, less soil erosion, more carbon storage and are
better for wildlife.
So what is
the role for nature reserves in a Living Landscape? Nature reserves will remain
crucial to the protection of rare habitats and species but the there is subtle
shift in the role they play in the future. At present the focus on reserve
management is primarily on the area within the perimeter fence whereas a Living Landscape approach focuses
more attention on enabling species to expand and move from nature reserves into
the wider landscape. So there is a need for a greater emphasis on working with
surrounding landowners and communities around the reserves and to develop
community projects that make the wider landscape more permeable to the
movements of wildlife – to work with communities to create ecological corridors
which link nature reserves to the surrounding wider landscape.
Nature
reserve management has often been designed to restore areas of land back to
dubious ecological pasts by mimicking
traditional land management systems which were once viable parts of
traditional rural economies. These traditional ways of managing land gradually
ceased as they became uneconomic and no longer part of the way people made a living. The problem for modern
nature conservation is that today these ways of managing habitats are often
labour intensive and very expensive to maintain. This means these ways of
managing land are unlikely to be sustainable over long periods, or at best will
be a constant drain on conservation organisations’ scarce resources of cash and
staff time. It is also simple impossible to truly turn back the clock and
restore past environments. Today’s climate is different and the balance of
species making up ecosystems has changed with many now widespread and familiar
species from grey squirrels to muntjac deer being comparatively new arrivals.
In
contrast a Living Landscape approach focuses attention on creating future
landscapes which are rich in wildlife, valued by people, and sustainable. It
puts the emphasis not so much on recreating the past as on creating better
futures. For Living Landscapes to work they must be valued parts of viable,
modern, local economies. This Living
Landscape approach is challenging: more challenging than simply maintaining
habitats on nature reserves using traditional but expensive management
techniques. However the goal is one truly worth aspiring to; a truly
sustainable nature conservation where future landscapes provide not only for
our needs but also for nature’s needs, and a recognition that this division
is ultimately false as we are all part
of a living planet in which mutual dependence includes us along with the rest
of life.
The challenge
for the future is to work with planners, businesses, farmers, landowners, local
communities and individuals to create these new landscapes. Living Landscapes
which are better for people: more beautiful and with more accessible
greenspace. Landscapes which help mitigate climate change and deliver the
ecosystem services we all depend on – from pollination services to waste
disposal, from flood control to carbon capture. Whole landscapes which are also
much richer in wildlife. Our nature reserves will remain key to this, but are just
one small part of this wider vision of a Living Landscape.
For decades,
despite the crucial but expensive conservation work which has protected some
rare species on nature reserves, we have continued to lose wildlife from the
wider countryside. The gradual loss of
so many species, so much beauty and diversity, from our wider countryside is
the greatest tragedy that nature conservation has failed to address. This has been a piecemeal loss; field by
field, pond by pond, a wet boggy patch full of orchids here, a copse or
hedgerow there. But the net result has been the loss of so much meaning and
beauty: 98% of our wildflower rich meadows gone, a vanishing of farmland birds
like skylarks, corn buntings and yellowhammers across too much of our
countryside. Those with long memories will know the scale of this loss: gone
from the wider countryside meadows with
clouds of butterflies, hedgerows full of
twittering sparrows, a bluebell wood here and a field of poppies there. The
vision of A Living Landscape is to rebuild landscapes richer in wildlife.
Landscapes in which our children can grow up experiencing wildlife near where
they live and play, in local communities as well as on nature reserves. Just as the impoverishment of our countryside
has happened over decades, so achieving this vision of a more wildlife rich wider
countryside will take decades to achieve. And it will happen field by field, garden by garden,
hedgerow by hedgerow, verge by verge, village pond by village pond, and
community by community. In the end the success of the Living Landscapes vision
depends on local people in local places taking local action for wildlife.
Maybe this
vision seems an impossible dream but it is one which can only be attempted with
the involvement and active support of people, businesses and communities. Each
small step is worthwhile in itself and the first step is to care enough to do
something positive for wildlife where you live, where you work and wherever you
have opportunity. And of course to support your local Wildlife Trust in any way
you feel able!
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