The Council of Europe's Landscape Convention was opened for signature in the Italian city of Florence in October 2000. Ratified to date by 40 member states and also known as the Florence Convention, it aims to promote the protection, management, and planning of landscapes across Europe. It recognises landscapes as a fundamental part of Europe's identity, shaping cultural, ecological, and economic life. The convention encourages public authorities and local communities to engage actively in the sustainable stewardship of their landscapes.
In the context of the convention, all landscapes are important: landscape refers not just to a beautiful landscape or to a picture postcard landscape; it is everything that surrounds us and that we perceive as our living environment, which influences our well-being. Implementing the convention means taking care of every landscape in every place; from pristine, to ordinary and even degraded.
