What is A Living Landscape

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What is A Living Landscape?

• Paul Wilkinson, Head of Living Landscape
• The Wildlife Trusts

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Introduction

• Aim to answer the following questions
• What is A Living Landscape?
• Why is there a need for A Living Landscape?
• Whats different compared to howweve worked in
  the past?
• What do the Wildlife Trusts bring to A Living
  Landscape?
• Whats already happening?

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What is A Living Landscape?
A Living Landscape VISION
many Living Landscapes
'Landscape-scaleconservation
Sitemanagement
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What is A Living Landscape?
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What is A Living Landscape?
Key elements - Protect and enlarge our existing
core biodiversity areas - Join up these areas -
Improve the permeability - Holistic approach
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The story so far

• A Living Landscape launched November 2006
• Visions of A Living Landscape developed at
  country (Scotland), regional and county (Essex)
  levels
• The Wildlife Trusts are increasingly working
  together, with partners, on Living Landscape
  schemes that follow natural boundaries and cross
  administrative ones.

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Why is there a need for A Living Landscape?

• Reasons that things need to change
• Severe fragmentation of habitats and populations
  of species
• Need for climate change adaptation and to respond
  to land use pressures as a result of climate
  change

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Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased
markedly as a result of human activities since
1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values
determined from ice cores spanning many thousands
of years (IPCC Forth Assessment Report 2007)
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Why is there a need for A Living Landscape?

• Reasons that things need to change
• Severe fragmentation of habitats and populations
  of species
• Need for climate change adaptation and to respond
  to land use pressures as a result of climate
  change
• Need to reconnect people and communities with
  their local environment and for conservation to
  integrate more closely with other land uses
• Recognition of value of ecosystem services to
  biodiversity and other social and economic issues
• Provide hope and a positive vision of the future

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Whats different?

• UK-wide vision for people and wildlife urban
  and rural
• Context political, environmental, economic
• Scale landscape rather than individual
  reserves/sites
• Skills and expertise multi-disciplinary
• Number of stakeholders and partners partnership
  orientated
• Ambition HUGE!

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What do the Wildlife Trusts bring?

• Local Understand the background, history and
  potential
• Everywhere - Active everywhere across the UK
• All habitats and species Work across all
  habitats and recognise the importance for all
  species
• Outreach significant face to face contact with
  real people on the ground
• People and communities bottom up organisation
  with roots in the community
• Experience - Already doing this across the UK and
  have practical examples to draw on and showcase
  including 2200 nature reserves

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What is being delivered?

• 100 Living Landscape schemes across the UK,
  covering 1.4 million hectares
• Habitat restoration and creation
• Audience development
• Community engagement
• Socio-economic studies
• Carbon studies
• New partnerships

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What is being delivered?
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What is being delivered?
Nene Valley Northants
WT reserves
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What is being delivered?
WT reserves
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What is being delivered?
The Great Fen Project - Cambs
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What is being delivered?
River Severn Living Landscape England and Wales
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What next?

• Work with partners on the ground to develop and
  deliver the 100 schemes and demonstrate
  achievement of A Living Landscape in practice
• Work with partners locally, regionally and
  nationally to embed Living Landscape principles
  in policy and decision making
• Build the evidence base of benefits, and momentum
  for delivering A Living Landscape across the
  whole UK

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Thank you

• Paul Wilkinson, Head of Living Landscape
• The Wildlife Trusts