What is a cultural landscape?

Cultural landscape is a term used to describe the interaction between human activity and the environment and falls into three main categories according to the World Heritage Committee: 

  1. "a landscape designed and created intentionally by man" 

  1. an "organically evolved landscape" which may be a "relict (or fossil) landscape" or a "continuing landscape" 

  1. an "associative cultural landscape" which may be valued because of the "religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element." 

Cultural landscapes are found throughout the Nordic countries. In highland, stony, and mountainous areas you can find mainly low-productive grassland areas used for animal husbandry.  In the lowlands you tend to find more intensively managed agricultural fields, with crops such as wheat, rapeseed and sugar beets 

Cultural landscapes as NbS

The main purpose of cultural landscapes is to provide food; hence they are essential for the societal challenge food security However, NbS within the cultural landscape are meant to counteract negative impacts of agricultural activities, and can therefore also be beneficial to combat other societal challenges: 

  • Biodiversity enhancement by supporting flora and fauna, for example meadow flowers, birds, and insects.
  • Water management: NbS can help reduce eutrophication of nearby waterbodies that would usually occur as a result of agricultural practises.
  • Climate change adaptation and mitigation: conventional agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Using NbS in cultural landscapes can contribute to reducing them.
  • Disaster risk and preparedness: soil erosion and degradation can be kept to a minimum using NbS in cultural landscapes, thus reducing the risk of landslides.

 

Cultural landscape before NbS have been implemented
Cultural landscape: After
Cultural landscape after NbS have been implemented
 

NbS that can be implemented in cultural landscapes

  • Flower strips and buffer zones: Buffer zones and flower strips are types of vegetation structure planted to serve a specific purpose. This can be, for example, to protect a water course by taking up excess phosphor from field run-off, provide floral resources to insects, provide food and shelter to animals, or protect against soil erosion.

  • Maintaining grasslands and meadows: Maintaining and creating grasslands and meadows is an important conservation measure for semi-natural and natural ecosystems in the cultural landscape.

  • Crop rotation and Intercropping: Crop rotation is the change of crops between harvests. This can be from one year to another or, depending on climate and crop type, several times over a season. Intercropping refers to when two of more crops are grown at the same time on the same piece of land. 

  • No tillage: No, or reduced, tillage refers to the practice of sowing or planting the new crop, after harvest, without first tilling the soil. 

  • Perennial crops: Perennial crops are crops that are not tilled after harvest but planted and then harvested year after year without replanting the crop. Most used examples are fruit trees and berry bushes. Perennial cereal crops have not yet been fully developed. 

  • Mulching: Mulching is a collection of NbS that focuses on covering the soil and adding nutrients and organic matter to it. This can be compost, chopped plant material, or even living mulch in form of intercropping plants that grow under the main crop.   

Are you unsure how to choose an NbS for the cultural landscapes? See our general guidance on Nature-based solutions! Link to general guidance 

You may also be interested in the S-ITUATION project's factsheet on agricultural ecosystems, which describes types of NbS that are typically used to solve various problems in specific land-use contexts.

These pages have been written by Helena Hanson, Georg Andersson and Johanna Alkan Olsson

UNESCO (2012) Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention [1] Archived 2019-11-27 at the Wayback Machine. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Paris. Page 14.