Rural landscape, nature conservation and culture: Some notes on research trends and management approaches from a (southern) European perspective

• Historical landscapes are important.
• Nature conservation is discussed.
• Protected areas do not protect landscape.
• International directives.

There is a growing interest today in landscape as an important perspective in sustainable development. A landscape perspective is being promoted at the global level by all of the most important institutions and through important regional directives and policies. The opportunities presented by a landscape-based approach for the European continent mark out the landscape as a possible new paradigm for our development model, with the aim of harmonious integration of social, economic and environmental factors in space and time. Current socio-economic trends, favoring abandonment and industrialization and conservation policies, supporting and promoting renaturalization, are threatening the loss of critical heritage resources. However, while socio-economic trends are difficult to change, more attention should be placed in conservation strategies. The rural landscape is largely a historical product and the time has come to assess it accordingly, identifying not only its threats and criticalities, but also challenging the policy directives and research approaches developed in recent decades that are negatively affecting the conservation and management of values associated with it. At the policy level, international directives dealing with have reinforced the trend toward cultural globalization by often overlapping the idea of nature with that of landscape, encouraging renaturalization, particularly in the form of forest cover, and neglecting ancient landscape patterns and the long and rich cultural history that led to their creation. It is important to encourage the recognition of a different level of biodiversity, biocultural diversity, looking for examples of positive integration between society and environment occurring in the rural landscape.