![A new Guide to Landscape (November 2020) The Scottish Government is a signatory to the European Landscape Convention, a Council of Europe initiative, not a European Union one. However, the implications of this are not widely known. For example, Article 5 of the Conventions states that Each Party undertakes “to establish and implement landscape policies aimed at landscape protection, management and planning.” Scotland is often praised by the government and tourism bodies for its ‘fantastic scenery’, and the government certainly pays lip service to ensuring that this remains the case. But what happens on the ground often appears to belie this. It is as if politicians hold in their minds the Platonic ideal of the iconic Scottish landscape – but an ideal which has lost touch with reality [see page 35 of the guide]. If anything, the trends of landscape change are accelerating us further away from this ideal. But this does not have to be the case. There are many tools available to describe, assess and plan landscapes, although it would appear these are not widely known to the public at large. Hence I have produced a guide for the layman: Introduction to Landscape: A guide for the non-specialist to aid the understanding, assessment and future planning of rural landscapes, with a focus on Scotland There is currently a new momentum to take the conservation of the Scottish landscape seriously as evinced by the recent formation of Scotland’s Landscape Alliance. It is hoped that this guide will assist people with understanding landscape change and with planning our future landscapes, thus ensuring that cherished landscapes are looked after properly.](index_htm_files/29451.png)
A View from Argyll
James Fenton’s perspective
on current conservation issues
Click here for previous blogs
There is now a new
Climate change & land use section
*October 2019*
James Fenton’s latst paper, first published
online at www.fenton.scot
9 October 2019
WOODLAND OR OPEN GROUND?
Scenarios for the persistence of woodland
in the presence of grazing
The Highlands of Scotland as an example
A modern upland landscape managed for timber and energy, The future of most of
upland Scotland?
INTRODUCTION TO LANDSCAPE
A guide for the non-specialist to aid
the understanding, assessment and
future planning of rural landscapes,
with a focus on Scotland
Test version published 13 November 2020
Comments to ecology@fenton.scot
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE FROM THE
LANDSCAPE PAGE HERE
53 pages, pdf, 1.8 mb
A modern intensive farmed landscape (above) has less
visual appeal than a traditional landscape with smaller
fields and field boundaries (below)