Crosscutting Issues in Treating the Fragmentation of Ecosystems and Landscapes

This essay is part of a research book aimed at bringing out critical elements about policies for Nature and those for Landscape, regarding their relationships too. Since the 1990s, many issues have emerged concerning fragmentation in nature and landscape studies. The dominance of the ecological standpoint in dealing with these problems emphasizes the importance of conserving ecosystems and biodiversity. A landscape concept comprehensive of natural components, processes and dynamics, and the crosscutting integration of landscapes in the policies that affect them are the primary conditions for a “bridge” between nature-oriented and culture-oriented policies. In fact an effective approach to nature conservation needs sustainable relationships among communities and their habitats; these can be really developed through a landscape-based planning. It means a "strong forward-looking action to enhance, restore or create landscapes” according to the European Landscape Convention: a basic statement of the strategic role of the project.