Landscape dynamics over time and space from ecological perspective

Land - use and land - cover changes driven by multiple factors have a tremendous impact on services provided by the environmental as well as the livelihoods and economic development of peop le living in, and far from, particular landscapes. For biodiversity in particular, landscape configuration is as important as landscape composition especially where there is increasing fragmentation and reduced connectivity of habitat. Protected areas alo ne are necessary but not sufficient in maintaining biodiversity at the landscape level for several reasons: (i) management and enforcement are often weak; (ii) protected areas are often in remote, rough terrain that does not represent various eco - regions w ith various species assemblages and endemism; (iii) the extent of protected areas is sometimes not large enough to allow minimum viable populations so that in the long run species extinction might happen nevertheless; (iv) protected areas without buffer zo nes and corridors can easily be isolated rather than integral parts of a landscape. Multifunctional landscapes that accommodate conservation and development need to be considered as integrated, rather than segregated, systems; this will allow us to achiev e the objective of maintaining biodiversity at the landscape level. Land - use plans that aim to increase multifunctionality of landscapes should be informed by the current status of landscape composition and configuration, the process of land - use and land - c over changes in the past and planned for the future, areas that are vulnerable to changes in the future and options for intervention. The land - use planning process should be conducted within a negotiation process among multiple stakeholders.

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