The role of the region in the European Landscape Convention

Abstract

The role of the region in the European Landscape Convention. Regional Studies. In the year 2000, the Council of Europe approved the European Landscape Convention, the first international treaty exclusively dedicated to the protection, management and planning of landscape. This supranational agreement is signed at the national level, but encourages the principle of subsidiarity for the implementation at the regional or local level. However, the current structure of the treaty lacks strong incentives or sanctions for effective implementation at the regional level. Through a case study of Catalonia, this article demonstrates the value of regional actors in the multi-scalar treaty and argues for increased regional agency within the European Landscape Convention.