16th Council of Europe Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention

 

"Landscape and transfrontier cooperation: Landscape knows no border"

Andorra la Vella, Andorra, 1-2 October 2015
Study visit, 30 September 2015

Organisation: The 16th Council of Europe Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention on “Landscape and transfrontier cooperation: Landscape knows no boundary”, was organised by the Council of Europe – Democratic Governance, Secretariat of the European Landscape Convention – in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Sustainable development of Andorra, within the context of the Work Programme of the European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe.

Description:

The Meeting aimed to analyse experiences on the landscape, achieved or ongoing, of transfrontier co-operation. The European Landscape Convention indeed states that “The Parties shall encourage transfrontier co-operation on local and regional level and, wherever necessary, prepare and implement joint landscape programmes” (Article 9 – Transfrontier landscapes). The Recommendation CM/Rec(2008)3 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the guidelines for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention considers that “Transfrontier co-operation may result in joint landscape protection, management and planning programmes and take the form of instruments and measures agreed between the authorities (different administrative levels and general and sectoral competences) and relevant stakeholders on both sides of the border”. It notes that“Transfrontier co-operation is possible not only between neighbouring states but also between neighbouring regions and communities in the same state which have different landscape policies, on the basis either of territorial contiguity or common features”.

Participants: The Meeting wass aimed at government officials – Members of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape (CDCPP) and Council of Europe Conference on the European Landscape Convention, representatives of other ministries –, representatives of local and regional authorities, universities, professionals, public and private governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the fields of landscape and sustainable management, with its environmental, cultural, social and economic dimensions.