Textbook: Landscape Planning with Ecosystem Services – Theories and Methods for Application in Europe

Short description

Human well-being depends in many ways on maintaining the stock of natural resources which deliver services from which humans benefit. However, these resources and flows of services are increasingly threatened by unsustainable and competing land uses. Particular threats exist to those public goods whose values are not well-represented in markets or whose deterioration will only affect future generations. As market forces alone are not sufficiently effective means to safeguard scarce natural resources, local and regional planning are needed in order to coordinate land uses and create sustainable landscape structures.

This book, entitled “Landscape planning with Ecosystem Services – Theories and methods for application in Europe”, argues that a solution to such challenges in Europe can be found by merging the landscape planning tradition with ecosystem services concepts. Landscape planning has strengths in recognizing ecosystem services delivery and deducing planning proposals, while the ecosystem services approach makes the connection between the status of natural assets and human well-being more explicit. It can also provide an economic perspective, focused on individual preferences and benefits, which helps validate the acceptability of environmental planning goals. Thus linking landscape planning and ecosystem services provides a two-way benefit, creating a usable science to meet the needs of local and regional decision making.

The book is structured around the Driving forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses framework, providing an introduction to relevant concepts, methodologies and techniques. It presents methods and measures for an ecosystem services-informed approach to landscape planning that constitutes both a framework and toolbox for students and practitioners to address the environmental and landscape challenges of 21st century Europe.

The handbook consists of about 500 pages, includes contributions from more than 40 authors from Europe, Asia, North and South America, and edited by Christina von Haaren, Andrew Lovett and Christian Albert.

An online version is available here

Textbook