18. The Emergence of Landscape Governance in Society-Environment Relationships

Landscapes are constructed physically and mentally by people and human society. Whilst ancient geological processes and ongoing biophysical processes have provided the underpinnings of landforms and natural resources, human society and its technologies, particularly since the industrial revolution, have shaped landscapes at multiple scales. Changing landscapes include the development of intensive human settlements, enhanced water catchments, mono-cultures, and reduced natural buffers which influence exposure and vulnerability to natural and other hazards. Human shaping and perceptions of landscapes have also created a sense of community, attachment and identity to those places and landscapes, a blend of human community and ecological interrelationships defining that place and attachment to it. Landscape governance refocuses multi-level policy and decision making on spatial contexts that reflect the greatest extent of internalisation of interdependencies of social-ecological relations; that is, between socially constructed spaces and the ecosystem function and conditions of places. The landscape context so defined gives rise to hazard vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation and responses to hazards and natural disasters. The concept of landscape governance augments understanding and practice towards participatory governance and will prove to be a useful tool to provide innovative direction to risk policy, planning and response.