Towards a Landscape Strategy of Andalucia

Seville, Spain, 2010

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The Andalusian government has decided to strengthen and co-ordinate its commitment with regard to landscape protection, management and planning through a Landscape Strategy.
The work was started at the beginning of 2010 by the Department of Housing and Spatial Planning (Consejería de Vivienda y Ordenación del Territorio) with the participation of all competent departments. The Strategy is aimed at implementing the European Landscape Convention, an international treaty which entered into force in Spain on 1 March 2008. Its main goal is the protection, management and planning of all Andalusian landscapes, with the participation of the local communities concerned.

So far, the Andalusian government has included the landscape in some of its policies, especially in urban and regional planning, roads, environment, heritage, agriculture and rural development. However, thanks to the landscape strategy, the work will be expanded and better co-ordinated. This will allow to take into account less discussed aspects such as management of urban borders, the visual pollution along roads or degradation of rural landscape, and even some new challenges like integration into the landscape of renewable energy facilities or the impact of climate change on the landscape.

The Andalusian strategy also means a contribution to sustainable development, because the landscape is not only a valuable natural / cultural heritage and an important factor of identity, but also a resource for economic development which can contribute to job creation. In fact, quality is a key to the development of tourism and the location of firms in a given area, thus improving the sustainability and competitiveness of different areas and cities.

The decision to begin developing the Andalusian Landscape Strategy was adopted on 26 October 2009, at the meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission of Urban Planning and Assessment, a body connected to the Department of Housing and Spatial Planning, with the participation of other departments. Within the Government of Andalusia, in addition to the department responsible for housing, there are several other departments which have responsibilities regarding landscape: Environment (including the Andalusian Water Agency), Public Works and Transport, Agriculture and Fisheries, Culture (and the Instituto Andaluz de Patrimonio Histórico) , Tourism, Trade and Sport, Innovation, Science and Enterprise (with the Andalusian Energy Agency) and Education. The Centro de Estudios Paisaje y Territorio will provide its scientific support.

The constitutive meeting of the interdepartmental Working Group for the development of Andalucia Landscape Strategy was held on 18 January 2010 in Seville (Cortijo del Parque del Alamillo). The objective of this meeting was to initiate a process of reflection and debate by interested departments and other agencies on the scope of the strategy and its possible objectives and action lines.

For the development of the strategy, the regional government will also have the support of the European Network of Local and Regional Authorities for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (RECEP-ENELC), which recently established the headquarters of its Technical Co-ordination Board in Seville.