Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Bio-cultural heritage and biodiversity: emerging paradigms in conservation and planning

  • Review Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Long-term studies across Europe have clarified the eco-cultural nature of landscapes and their biodiversity, and the importance of bio-cultural heritage. This raises issues of the nature of ‘Nature’ for example, and of how perceptions of ‘natural’ landscapes may be misleading. Indeed, the lack of understanding of how ecological systems and their biodiversity relate to the cultural nature of landscapes is hugely problematic. Whilst wilder ‘futurescapes’ offer many benefits, the underlying concepts frequently confuse abandonment of ‘eco-cultural landscapes’ with ‘re-wilding’. The ending of traditional and customary uses and utilisation of landscapes mistakenly seen as re-naturing or re-wilding, and inherently a beneficial change, may threaten the conservation of important bio-cultural heritage. The reality of landscape heritage is that much biodiversity relates to long-term, predictable, sustainable, traditional uses. The ending of such traditions has now happened in many regions and taking place rapidly across much of Europe. Sudden, dramatic and often unexpected changes occur and massive declines of biodiversity result. With environments transformed by human activity, the eco-cultural landscapes in traditional or customary management hold much of the most significant wildlife resources. The ending of traditional and customary management, termed ‘cultural severance’ (Rotherham 2008), is probably the most serious threat for nature conservation in the twenty-first century, at least in the medium-term, the impacts exceeding those of climate change. The transformations now happening also have major implications for rural human communities and their economies. Observational studies and cross-disciplinary research across Europe highlights the urgent need to recognise the eco-cultural nature of landscapes and to establish inventories and conservation programmes for important bio-cultural heritage. This paper results from long-term historical research, scientific analysis of case studies, and international researcher collaborations to present ideas and paradigms relating to emerging concepts and visions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams W (2003) Future nature: a vision for conservation. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Agnoletti M (ed) (2006) The conservation of cultural landscapes. CAB International, Wallingford

    Google Scholar 

  • Agnoletti M (2008) Chestnut orchards in the monitoring system of Tuscan landscape. Landsc Archaeol Ecol 7:9–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Agnoletti M (2013) Valorising the European rural landscape: the case of the Italian national register of historical rural landscapes. In: Rotherham ID (ed) Cultural severance and the environment: the ending of traditional and customary practice on commons and landscapes managed in common. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 59–86

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Agnoletti M, Armiero M, Barca S, Corona G (eds) (2005) History and Sustainability. European Society for Environmental History

  • Agnoletti M, Anderson S, Johann E, Kulvik M, Saratsi E, Kushlin A, Mayer P, Montiel C, Parrotta J, Rotherham ID (eds) (2007) Guidelines for the implementation of social and cultural values in sustainable forest management. A scientific contribution to the implementation of MCPFE: Vienna Resolution 3. IUFRO Occasional Paper No. 19, Vienna

  • Agnoletti M, Anderson S, Johann E, Kulvik M, Saratsi E, Kushlin A, Mayer P, Montiel C, Parrotta J, Rotherham ID (2008) The introduction of cultural values in the sustainable management of European forests. Glob Environ 2:172–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Appell GN (1993) Hardin’s Myth of the commons: the tragedy of conceptual confusions. Working Paper 8. Phillips ME (ed) Social Transformation and Adaptation Research Institute, Indiana University, USA

  • Ardron PA (1999) Peat cutting in Upland Britain, with Special Reference to the Peak District. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield, Sheffield

  • Browning G, Gorst J (2013) Wild cattle and the ‘wilder valley’ experiences: the introduction of extensive grazing with Galloway cattle in the Ennerdale Valley, England. In: Rotherham ID (ed) Trees, forested landscapes and grazing animals: a European perspective on woodlands and grazed treescapes. EARTHSCAN, London, pp 269–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Bürgi M, Stuber M (2013) What, how, and why? Collecting traditional knowledge on forest uses in Switzerland. In: Rotherham ID (ed) Cultural severance and the environment: the ending of traditional and customary practice on commons and landscapes managed in common. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 123–132

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Capriello A, Rotherham ID (2008) Farm attractions, networks, and destination development: a case study of Sussex, England. Tour Rev 63(2):59–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson R (1962) Silent spring. Fawcett Publications, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Carver S (2014) Making real space for nature: a continuum approach to UK conservation. ECOS 35(3–4):4–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick L (1982) In search of heathland. Dobson Books, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronon W (ed) (1996) Uncommon ground. W.W. Norton and Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronon W (2003) Changes in the land. Hill and Wang, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • De Moor M, Shaw-Taylor L, Warde P (2002) The management of common land in north west Europe, c. 1500-1850. Brepols Publishers n.v, Turnhout

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vries J (1974) The Dutch rural economy in the golden age, 1500-1700. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • De Zeeuw JW (1978) Peat and the Dutch golden age: the historical meaning of energy-attainability. A.A.G. BIJDRAGEN 21:3–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton J (2013) Comment: conservation grazing of heathland—where is the logic? Br Wildl 24(5):339–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton J (2014) Heathland conservation grazing: it’s not all good. ECOS 35(3–4):38–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudley N (2011) Authenticity in nature. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Egan D, Hjerpe E, Abrams J (2011) Integrating nature and culture: the human dimensions of ecological restoration. Island Press, Washington D.C.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Elliot R (1997) Faking nature. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher M (2006) Future natural: the unpredictable course of wild nature. ECOS 27(1):1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher M (2013) Wild nature reclaiming man-made landscapes. ECOS 34(2):50–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler J (2002) Landscapes and lives. The Scottish forest through the ages. Canongate Books, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Giblett R (1996) Post-modern wetlands: culture, history, ecology. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Gimingham CH (1972) Ecology of heathland. Chapman and Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP, Hodgson JG, Hunt R (2007) Comparative plant ecology. A functional approach to common British species, 2nd edn. Castlepoint Press, Dalbeattie

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove AT, Rackham O (2003) The nature of Mediterranean Europe: an ecological history (Second printing with corrections ed.). Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall M (ed) (2009) Greening history: the presence of the past in environmental restoration. Routledge Publishing, London, pp 143–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin G (1968) The tragedy of the commons. Science 162(No. 3859, December 13):1243–1248

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harding PT, Rose F (1986) Pasture-woodlands in lowland Britain—a review of their importance for wildlife conservation. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood Experimental Station, Huntingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • Harding PT, Wall T (eds) (2000) Moccas: an English deer park. English Nature, Peterborough

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayman R (2003) Trees. Woodlands and Western Civilization. Hambledon and London, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson JG (1986) Commonness and rarity in plants with special reference to the Sheffield Flora. Biol Conserv 36(3):199–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman RC (2014) An environmental history of medieval Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jameson CM (2012) Silent spring revisited. Bloomsbury, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Johann E (2013) The history of utilization and management of commons and consequences of current social change in the Alpine region of Austria. In: Rotherham ID (ed) Cultural severance and the environment: the ending of traditional and customary practice on commons and landscapes managed in common. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 133–146

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Juniper T (2013) What has nature ever done for us?. Profile Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Juniper T (2015) What nature does for Britain. Profile Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert JM, Jennings JN, Smith CT, Green C, Hutchinson JN (1961) The making of the broads. A reconsideration of their origin in the light of new evidence. John Murray Ltd., London

    Google Scholar 

  • Liddiard R (2003) The deer parks of Domesday Book. Landscapes 4(1):4–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liddiard R (ed) (2007) The medieval deer park: new perspectives. Windgather Press, Macclesfield

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowenthal D (1985) The past is a foreign country. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Maier DS (2012) What’s so good about biodiversity?. Springer, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marris E (2011) Rambunctious garden: saving nature in a post-wild world. Bloomsbury, London

    Google Scholar 

  • May A, Hall J, Pretty J (2006) Managed retreat in Essex: rewilding the coast at Abbotts Hall. ECOS 27(1):36–37

    Google Scholar 

  • McKibben B (1990) The end of nature. Penguin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • McKibben B (1995) Hope, human and wild. Little, Brown and Company, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Monbiot G (2013a) Feral: searching for enchantment on the frontiers of rewilding. Allen Lane, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Monbiot G (2013b) The Lake District is a wildlife desert. Blame Wordsworth. The Guardian, Monday 2nd September

  • Muir R (2005) Ancient trees living landscapes. Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud

    Google Scholar 

  • Oelschlaeger M (1991) The idea of wilderness. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce F (2015) The new wild. Icon Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlin J (1989) A forest journey. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterken GF (1981) Woodland conservation and management. Chapman and Hall, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Peterken GF (1996) Natural woodland—ecology and conservation in northern temperate regions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyne SJ (2001) Fire: a brief history. The British Museum Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rackham O (1976) Trees and woodland in the British landscape, 1st edn., Archaeology in the field seriesJ.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rackham O (1980) Ancient woodland: its history, vegetation and uses in England. Edward Arnold, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rackham O (1986) The history of the countryside. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rackham O (1989) The last forest: the story of Hatfield forest. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rackham O (1990) Trees and woodland in the British landscape. Archaeology in the Field Series (2, revised edition), J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London

  • Rackham O (1996) The making of the Cretan landscape. Manchester University Press, Manchester

    Google Scholar 

  • Rackham O (2003) Ancient woodland: its history, vegetation and uses in England. (Second, updated edition), Castlepoint Press, Dalbeattie

  • Rackham O (2006) Woodlands., New naturalist seriesHarperCollins, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rippon S (2000) The transformation of coastal wetlands. The British Academy, Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (1995) Urban heathlands: their conservation, restoration and creation. Land Contam Restor 3(2):99–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (1996) The importance of relict landscapes in conserving urban biodiversity. In: Proceedings of the 28th international geographical congress: land, sea and human effort. August 1996, The Hague, p 396

  • Rotherham ID (1999) Peat cutters and their landscapes: fundamental change in a fragile environment. Peatland ecology and archaeology: management of a cultural landscape. Landsc Archaeol Ecol 4:28–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2005a) Fuel and landscape—exploitation, environment, crisis and continuum. Landsc Archaeol Ecol 5:65–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2007a) The implications of perceptions and cultural knowledge loss for the management of wooded landscapes: a UK case-study. For Ecol Manag 249:100–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2007b) The ecology and economics of medieval deer parks. In: Rotherham ID (ed) The history, ecology and archaeology of medieval parks and parklands. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield, pp 86–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2008) The importance of cultural severance in landscape ecology research. In: Dupont A, Jacobs H (eds) Landscape ecology research trends. Nova Science Publishers Inc., Huntington. ISBN 978-1-60456-672-7

  • Rotherham ID (2011a) Hanging by a thread: a brief overview of the heaths and commons of the north-east midlands of England. In: Rotherham ID, Bradley J (eds) Lowland heaths: ecology, history, restoration and management. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield, pp 30–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2011b) Cultural severance in landscapes and the causes and consequences for lowland heaths. In: Rotherham ID, Bradley J (eds) Lowland heaths: ecology, history, restoration and management. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield, pp 130–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2012) Traditional woodland management: the implications of cultural severance and knowledge loss. In: Rotherham ID, Jones M, Handley C (eds) Working & walking in the footsteps of ghosts. The wooded landscape, vol 1. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield, pp 223–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (ed) (2013a) Trees, forested landscapes and grazing animals: a European perspective on woodlands and grazed treescapes. EARTHSCAN, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (ed) (2013b) Cultural severance and the environment: the ending of traditional and customary practice on commons and landscapes managed in common. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2013c) The lost fens: England’s greatest ecological disaster. The History Press, Stroud

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2013d) Searching for shadows and ghosts. In: Rotherham ID, Handley C, Agnoletti M, Samoljik T (eds) Trees beyond the wood: an exploration of concepts of woods, forests and trees. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield, pp 1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2014a) Eco-history: an introduction to biodiversity & conservation. The White Horse Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID (2014b) The call of the wild. Perceptions, history people & ecology in the emerging paradigms of wilding. ECOS 35(1):35–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID, Ardron PA (2006) The archaeology of woodland landscapes: issues for managers based on the case-study of Sheffield, England and four thousand years of human impact. Arboric J 29(4):229–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham, ID, Egan D (2005) The economics of fuel wood, charcoal and coal: an interpretation of coppice management of British woodlands. In: Agnoletti M, Armiero M, Barca S, Corona G (eds) History and sustainability. European Society for Environmental History, pp 100–104

  • Rotherham ID, Lambert RA (eds) (2011) Invasive and introduced plants and animals: human perceptions, attitudes and approaches to management. EARTHSCAN, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID, Ardron PA, Gilbert OL (1997) Factors determining contemporary upland landscapes: a re-evaluation of the importance of peat-cutting and associated drainage, and the implications for mire restoration and remediation. In: Blanket Mire degradation. Causes, consequences and challenges. Proceedings of the British Ecological Society Conference in Manchester, 1997. British Ecological Society and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen, pp 38–41

  • Rotherham ID, Egan D, Ardron PA (2004) Fuel economy and the uplands: the effects of peat and turf utilisation on upland landscapes. Soc Landsc Stud Suppl Ser 2:99–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotherham ID, Jones M, Handley C (2012) Working & walking in the footsteps of ghosts. The wooded landscape. Vol 1. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield

  • Schwartz KZS (2006) Nature and national identity after communism. Globalizing the ethnoscape. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Smout C (2000) Nature contested: environmental history in Scotland and Northern England since 1600. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor P (2005) Beyond conservation. A wildland strategy. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor P (2006) Home counties wildland: the new nature at Knepp. ECOS 27(1):44–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor P (2010) Lakeland valley and Somerset hills: a tale of two managements. ECOS 31(3/4):40–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Tubbs C (1986) The new forest. New naturalist. Collins, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Vera F (2000) Grazing ecology and forest history. CABI Publishing, Oxon

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vera FWM (2005) Large ungulates: driving forces behind a non-linear succession. Landsc Archaeol Ecol 5:99–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Vera F (2007) The wood-pasture theory and the deer park: the grove: the origin of the deer park. Landsc Archaeol Ecol 6:107–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Vera F (2009) The wood-pasture; a Model for Heath? J Pract Ecol Conserv, Special Series No. 5: 10

  • Vidal J (2005) Wild herds may stampede across Britain under plan for huge reserves. The Guardian Thursday October 27

  • Warde P (2005) Woodland fuel, demand and supply. In: Langton J, Jones G (eds) Forests and chases of England and Wales c.1500–c.1850. Towards a survey & analysis. St John’s College Research Centre, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb NR (1986) Heathlands. Collins, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb NR (1990) Changes on the heathlands of Dorset, England. Between 1978 and 1987. Biol Conserv 51:273–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb NR (1998) The traditional management of European heathlands. J Appl Ecol 35:987–990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westland E (1997) Cornwall—the cultural construction of place. Pattern Press (Publishers), Penzance

Web sources

  • Alpine Convention (2009) http://www.alpconv.org/en/convention/default.html

Download references

Acknowledgments

Anonymous referees are thanked for their comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Ian D. Rotherham

Authors
  1. Ian D. Rotherham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian D. Rotherham.

Additional information

Communicated by Mauro Agnoletti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rotherham, I.D. Bio-cultural heritage and biodiversity: emerging paradigms in conservation and planning. Biodivers Conserv 24, 3405–3429 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-1006-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-1006-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation