When landscape planning becomes landscape governance, what happens to the science?

A key issue of scientific research is the impact of science in landscape planning. Two trends in society demand this issue to be a research priority: the decentralization of government power to the local level and the growing distrust towards experts and scientific knowledge in policy and the public. We show how these trends challenge the role and position of science in landscape planning. We conclude that it is urgent to systematically extend our knowledge on the impact of science in decision-making networks. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.