In landscape management all of us have something to say. A holistic method for landscape Preservability evaluation in a Mediterranean region

Landscape assessment methods have traditionally valued the landscape through a panel of experts with little or no participation of the population. However, after the adoption of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), the perception and the participation of the population has played an increasingly important role in landscape evaluation and planning. In this regard, the goal of this paper is to develop a model able to evaluate and integrate both the objective and subjective landscape factors into a new concept: the Preservability. This model, as well as selecting and classifying the landscape attributes according to the bio-geographic features of the study area i.e., Ricote Valley (Region of Murcia, Spain), includes two online surveys: one to assess the populatiońs landscape preferences and the other to obtain the specific weight of each objective and subjective landscape factor from a panel of experts. These landscape factors were incorporated into a GIS. To obtain the best model, the Preservability was assessed from three different approaches: objective, objective-weighted and weighted. The final results demonstrate how the Preservability weighted method returns different thresholds appropriate to the landscape attributes, the population’s perceptual preference and the protected areas. The different thresholds allows for priority areas to be identified for protection, as well as the adoption of appropriate management and planning strategies according to the landscapes characteristics, current state and uniqueness.     

Transdisciplinary landscape planning: Does the public have aspirations? Experiences from a case study in Ghent (Flanders,Belgium)

Since the end of the last century, the focus in landscape policy is shifting from traditional top-down perspectives into a bottom-up and integrated approach involving participation of local stakeholders. Keywords in the European Landscape Convention (ELC) include participation and awareness-raising: the public should be involved and their aspirations towards landscape should be assessed. This evolution in policy went with a new paradigm in landscape research: transdisciplinarity. Despite this evolution, literature indicates the necessity of a more general use of methods for public participation in landscape planning to meet the objectives of the Convention. The present paper explores ways to involve ‘the local people’ and to grasp their aspirations with regard to the landscape features of their surroundings. Point of departure is a questionnaire combining questions on landscape preference, environmental worldview and behaviour in the landscape. The questionnaire was distributed in a spatially stratified sample amongst inhabitants of the city of Ghent. The survey was set up without any connection to a concrete operational project that could convince respondents to participate. The response rate was relatively large despite a rather demanding questionnaire. More isolated target groups such as people with lower income, lower education level, and retired people were included, but foreigners, despite being a substantial part of the urban population, did not respond. The respondents appeared to be rather homogeneous as regards environmental worldview and aspirations in the landscape. It appeared that environment and landscape were not clearly distinguished between by the respondents. These results yield some suggestions for transdisciplinary landscape policy. A careful design of the sampling can enhance number and diversity of the respondents. Yet, it is equally important to develop a common language to communicate about landscape so that the question items can be clearly phrased and understood. Aspirations towards landscape should be defined more unambiguously so that they can be assessed alike. Awareness-raising for landscape may help to increase the number of local people that feel addressed when talking about landscape. When public support for landscape policy and management is taken seriously, more factors than only landscape should be taken into consideration.     

“This is what we did last time”. Uncertainty over landscape analysis and its procurement in the Swedish road planning process

In some European countries, landscape analysis has long been used in support of large-scale planning or major projects such as new trunk roads and mainline rail routes, in line with both the UN's Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment and the European Landscape Convention. Some countries, however, lack a regulatory framework for what should be analysed, how a landscape analysis should be conducted, or even how it should be procured. Sweden is one such country. The research project on which this article is based uses in-depth interviews with twelve key Swedish officials to consider landscape analysis issues in the planning and procurement of road and railway infrastructure. The findings point to the fact that skilled transport planners are not entirely comfortable with the current situation, and the way landscape analysis is handled in daily planning practice varies enormously. For example, nearly all the respondents believe that the way formal landscape analyses are procured is important, not least to ensure quality, yet at the same time they are rarely commissioned separately, even when this is explicitly stipulated by the regulations. There is no generally accepted notion of what ‘landscape’ might be, and the terms in which respondents describe the landscape do not correspond to the official landscape terminology as set down in the ELC.     

基于企业生命周期企业文化构建的策略性分析

企业会像生物体一样具有生命周期,在生命周期的每一个阶段都会表现出其鲜明的特征和行为方式,这就要求企业在生命周期的不同阶段,要建立与之相匹配的组织架构、治理方式、企业文化等,使企业的生命得以延续。揭示出企业生命周期各阶段的主要特征,并构建与之相适应的企业文化,才能为企业提供现实的指导意义。     

Landscapes with history: Addressing shortcomings in Swedish EIAs

Sixteen EU member states have ratified the European Landscape Convention (ELC), which works parallel to the EU's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) directives. The ELC defines landscape and emphasizes the importance of public dialogue and identifying, analysing, and assessing the landscape. Researchers are dissatisfied with how landscape is treated in EIAs; to address this, the paper focuses on the retrospective historical view, landscape change, and public participation. I reviewed ten Swedish road and railroad EIAs, noting deficiencies in how they describe and analyze landscape. Furthermore, efforts to make the landscape more comprehensible to the public in EIAs or consultations could be improved. These problems arise from professional planners’ lack of appropriate tools combined with their traditional working methods. Swedish researchers have stressed the lack of appropriate tools for describing and analyzing the landscape in EIAs. This paper presents an applied tool developed to improve visual understanding of the landscape's historical dimensions and how they change, focusing on visualization to facilitate public consultation. The tool also helps planners better harmonize new infrastructure with the surrounding landscape. The tool combines the matching of historical artworks and maps with current photographs and field visits, providing comprehensive “before” versus “now” overviews of landscapes.     

Is environmental labeling certification a “green passport” for firm exports in emerging economies? Evidence from China

As the demand for more environmentally friendly products continues to increase, environmental label certification (ELC), as a voluntary environmental practice (VEP), has become a commonly used strategy by firms responding the green demands of the international market. While ELC is playing an increasingly important role in global trade, how ELC affects firms’ exports, especially how it affects the exports of those firms in emerging economies, remains unknown. This study explores the impact of ELC on firms’ exports. Insights are provided from resource-based views (RBV) by analysing China's A-share listed manufacturing firms to estimate the impact of China's ELC on exports. Our empirical results show that ELC can promote firms’ exports, because ELC emphasizes firms to reduce pollutant from the source, thereby, brings about cost advantage and green product differentiated advantage to boost high-quality exports. Using a series of robustness tests, we provide corroborating evidence for our hypotheses. The export-enhancing effect of ELC is impacted by the institutional context of emerging economies, as specialized market intermediaries and greater openness to the global market strengthen the export-enhancing effect of ELC. This research not only contributes to the literature, but also provides a reference for policy-makers and managers in using ELC to develop green trade.