Reconciling Conservation and Development: Are Landscapes the Answer?

The landscape approach is being used for initiatives that have the dual objectives of conserving biodiversity and alleviating poverty. However, working at such landscape scales greatly expands the level of ambition of conservation organizations and requires them to use skills that differ from those that they have traditionally deployed. Influencing landscape change requires major commitments for long periods of time and since there is still little evidence for the success of such approaches they should be used cautiously. Landscape programmes must be based on a comprehensive understanding of landscape dynamics and of the underlying drivers of social, economic and ecological change. Just as in any other investment in conservation it is important to set objectives in clear and measurable terms. Landscape approaches should therefore complement and not replace more conventional biodiversity conservation measures. They should be guided by scenarios agreed by concerned stakeholders, should be constructivist and in most cases their success will require major changes in the behavior of local people.