Sustainable Management of Cultural Landscapes: Use of Ecosystem Services in Rural Tourism

• Cultural landscapes can be defined as areas of land with cultural properties that represent the combined works of nature and mankind. The interdisciplinary character of sustainable management of cultural landscapes requires that nature and culture conservation strategies are integrated into one holistic system, where the preservation and remediation of cultural landscapes embrace both the key issues of nature conservation and preservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of ecosystem services and the conservation of built and intangible cultural heritage. Furthermore, an evolutionary approach must be applied taking into account the continuous changes of landscapes and their use: conservation is not a simple way to preserve an object, but integrating the preserved natural and cultural values into development strategies through defining their practical use and role in society, taking into consideration the physical and intellectual needs of present and future generations. Ecosystem services play a key role in conservation of landscapes since they constitute the basis of planned utilization of natural resources for sustainable local and regional planning. We propose an ecosystem-centred holistic management structure for rural landscapes, which will enable regional planning strategists and tourism managers to protect rural touristic destinations from overexploitation and planning touristic business volumes according to the carrying capacity of these destinations. Understanding the social and environmental ‘carrying capacity’ of a destination is one of the key priorities of sustainable destination management.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Kulturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Cultural Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cultural landscapes

ecosystem services

sustainable tourism

landscape management

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