Living Landscapes

A Living Landscape is the aspirational end-point where the UK’s environment, society and economy co-exist for the benefit of wildlife and people.  It comprises a series of Living Landscapes, linked together at local, regional and country level.  This presents a holistic approach, to re-connect our urban and rural areas, freshwater and coast.  Beyond the coast, the connections continue to create Living Seas.

Living Landscapes are ecologically functioning landscapes (such as river catchments) that can adapt to climate change; providing resilience and connectivity for wildlife, access and enjoyment for people and a sustainable, low carbon contribution to the economy.  Living Landscapes consists of:

 

  1. Core areas of high quality habitat - protected areas, SSSI’s, Nature Reserves and so on.  The nodes or centres for future colonisation when the overall landscape is enhanced.

  2. Inter-linkages between core areas; not just corridors, but stepping stones - functional connectivity across a landscape, not just physical connectivity, effectively turning a landscape of isolated patches into one large unit.

  3. Permeability across the whole landscape. Land between core areas and functional connections should be permeable to wildlife movement.  It may not be preferred habitat but could be sub-optimal habitat, allowing movement if not long-term survival.  Actions here centre on de-intensified land use.

     

     Yorkshire's Living Landscape

    Yorkshire's Livign Landscape