Landscape Governance and Policy

Landscapes are socio-ecological systems organised around particular combinations of ecological, environmental, social, and historic characteristics. They form distinct spatial units that require context-sensitive governance to avoid sustainability challenges and to shift toward nature-positive societies. It is across landscapes that multiple stakeholders’ overlapping claims and conflicting interests interact. Thus, effectively managing landscapes should encourage synergies and a convergence of co-benefits where possible. This subject adopts an interdisciplinary and participatory approach to exploring the ways that landscapes are governed, which actors are involved, and how decisions are made. The processes of landscape governance are explored through an analysis of integrated landscape management principles and practices. The subject will cover several cross-sectional issues in landscape governance, such as knowledge use, gender, colonialism, and the interaction between cultural and natural landscapes. The subject will also utilise several case-studies, such as Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Atlantic Middle Passage, to apply the concepts learned throughout the subject and to gain a greater in-depth knowledge of governance across contested landscapes. A 3-day field trip will be held in Week 3 to reinforce learnings through an experiential field experience.