On 26 June 2010, the non-governemntal organizations EXPEDITIO Center for Sustainable Spatial Development and the Quebec-Labrador Foundation /Atlantic Center for the Environment (QLF), held a public presentation on Landscape Stewardship. The presentation was part of the Landscape Stewardship Exchange (LSE) organized in the Boka Kotorska Bay, in the period 21-27 July 2010.
The aim of the Landscape Stewardship Exchange (LSE) in Boka Kotorska is to foster a more active involvement of citizens in the landscape protection, management and planning (stewardship), specifically through a direct involvement in the process of identification of cultural landscape values. The LSE programme focuses on the area of Boka Kotorska, including the territories of the municipalities of Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi, as an extremely valuable cultural landscape, which is currently facing many challenges and risks related to its protection and planning.
Starting from a broader understanding of the concept of cultural heritage, where it "includes all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction of people and places over time", cultural heritage represents the most comprehensive category of cultural heritage. The latest international conventions stress that it is necessary "to include all members of a society in the ongoing process of cultural heritage identification and management ".
The presentation presented the results of the workshop "Mapping of the Cultural Landscape of Boka Kotorska", which was held in Kotor on 24 June 2010, as well as some relevant experience in landscape stewardship by the LSE participants:
Brent Mitchell, QLF, SAD:
- QLF approach of citizen stewardship of landscapes, some positive models of sustainable landscape preservation from the United States and
- Experience of the Protected Landscape Task Force of IUCN’s Word Commission of Protected Areas
- An example of a community-driven cultural mapping initiative. Using an online map base of a historic waterway, citizens are being invited to nominate sites of cultural and historical interest. They are contributing images, descriptions and comments related to each site. This will build an online cultural atlas in a participatory ‘Wikipedia’-like process.
- Activities of ECOVAST related to cultural landscape identification in Croatia