Landscape governance as a matter of concern: A relational framework.

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.