A Knowledge Review on Integrated Landscape Approaches

Abstract

Holistic and multi-transdisciplinary approaches, where multiple goals are achieved in order to improve resilience in societies and ecosystems in the short, medium, and long term, are ideal, even utopian. Hence, science has come together with practical experiences that highlight the importance of working at a ‘landscape’ level. Landscapes, as socio-ecological systems, are key for sustainability and sustainable development, and they represent a realistic unit to interconnect local, national, and ultimately global scales. International efforts regarding holistic natural resources management approaches are not new; however, they are currently pointing to an Integrated Landscape Approach (ILA). Based on a documentation review and analysis, the present article review aims to promote the disambiguation of the ILA concept and provide an updated synthesis knowledge on the ILA. Especially for the forest sector, the ILA has been identified as particularly beneficial, strongly highlighted by the scientific literature, and with an infrastructure of organizations that are encouraging it. The paper presents the rationale of the science behind the concept, as well as the main principles, we identified a variety of definitions with some significant points of overlap, we highlight the inclusion of ILAs in the current international arena and the relationship of ILA’s and Jurisdictional Approaches, and we make a review of the ILA in a challenging world of rapid change. Our review recognizes ILAs socio-ecological management strategy to reconcile conservation, development, climate change, and human well-being goals. ILAs naturally have a social and idealistic construction behind it, which might be just as necessary andsignificant as the journey toward sustainability itself.

Biological mechanisms matter in contemporary wildlife conservation

“…Physiological and behavioral knowledge can provide a first-principles understanding of how animals respond to landscape characteristics that contain much greater predictive power than descriptions of presence and absence. Physiology and behavior therefore must become an integral part in landscape assessment for conservation and integrated landscape use, 145 in conjunction with evaluation of physical characteristics (e.g., hydromorphological and biophysical 146 ) and species distribution modeling. 70 Although much progress has been made in all of these domains in the last few decades, there remains need for long-term studies/monitoring to generate robust empirical data that fully reflect spatiotemporal dynamics and relationships that presumably govern animal-environment interactions.…”

A refined literature review to promote sustainable development through integrated frameworks in the European landscape

“…By definition, SEPLs refer to dynamic mosaics of habitats and land uses that have been shaped over the years by interactions between people and nature in ways that maintain biodiversity and provide humans with goods and services. SEPLs share a basic premise with the existing literature on social-ecological systems and resilience thinking [89], which holds that social and ecological systems are coupled, and that adaptive management is needed to achieve sustainable development goals. Sometimes referred to as a human-environment system [90], various disciplines make use of the SEL term, but it has been noted that it is an unclear term which facilitates interdisciplinary communication and diverse applicability [91,2].…”

An applied research agenda for navigating diverse livelihood challenges in rural coastal communities in the tropics

“…Landscape approaches seek to bring together diverse stakeholders and sectors to address environmental, socioeconomic, and political challenges at spatial scales that transcend management boundaries. However, to date, they have been most used in terrestrial areas (see recent reviews 36,37 ) rather than across the terrestrial-marine interface (Integrated Coastal Zone Management 38 and Ridge to Reef 39 are notable exceptions). In addition, the focus of most projects adopting the landscape approach has been on conservation or agriculture-in part because they emerged from the natural and biophysical sciences.…”

“…2,36 In part, this failure may be due to the challenges of balancing multiple objectives, identification of interactions and negotiating trade-offs among diverse stakeholders, 2 an inability to overcome interdisciplinary boundaries, 36 and the difficulties of integrating multiple scales of governance. 37,41,47 For an intersectoral approach to be successful, project planning should include a wide range of actors, including government officials in departments that represent interacting sectors such as ministries of agriculture, fisheries, mining, forestry, tourism, and proponents of business initiatives like palm oil development, logging operations, or hotel construction, as well as ''upstream/downstream'' communities. As such, balancing multiple needs and perspectives for an integrated approach in a livelihoods project planning context will present similar obstacles.…”