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Landscape governance as a matter of concern: A relational framework

Wim de Haas,J. Westerink

Published 2025 in Ambio

ABSTRACT

In this article, we propose a relational social-ecological framework as alternative to functional views of nature, quantitative interpretations of value and bipolar conceptions of human–nature relationships. Instead, we conceptualise the complementary and reciprocal relations between nature, human behaviour and governance in a ‘landscape governance’ triangle in which: the relationship between nature and behaviour is conceptualised as signification and identity; the relationship between nature and governance as ordering and generation; and the relationship between governance and behaviour as authority and agency. From this relational conception, it implies that landscape governance is more a matter of concern than only a matter of fact, according to Bruno Latour’s proposal. We see this as the basis for an ethics of care that gives meaning to a relational social-ecological approach without losing the urgency of countering biodiversity loss and climate change. We illustrate our landscape governance triangle with examples from The Netherlands.

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