Ecological Networks are an Issue for All of US

The concept of ecological networks is not new. Ecological networks have been developed in several European countries, including in Estonia during the 1970s and 1980s and in former Czechoslovakia during the 1980s. In these countries, a strong tradition in land-use planning had created the institutional environment for allocating functions at the landscape scale and habitats were becoming increasingly fragmented due to economic development. We now recognise this as the translation of landscape ecological knowledge in homogenisation and fragmentation processes in the landscapes of Europe that diminished ecosystem functions and natural populations. Fragmentation explains much of the decline in natural species, and we now realize that, for many natural species, existing nature reserves and national parks are too small (Somma, 2006). The concept of ecological connectivity is implicit in several international conventions (e.g. Ramsar convention, Bern Convention), European agreements (Habitats and Species directives), and related EU policy implementation (Natura 2000). It has also become operational in national and European strategies (National Ecological Networks, the Pan-European Ecological Network and Pan European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS).

The meaning and the application of the ecological network concept has changed over the past decade, with emphasis shifting from nature protection towards sustainable development for a region as a whole that integrates biodiversity issues. The observed change in thinking originates from the discourse in the international policy arena of the Convention on Biodiversity, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the Millennium Development Goals, which perceived the environment as making a contribution to sustainable development, rather than as something with intrinsic value to be protected from use. Implementation of these international agendas is increasingly guided by the ecosystem approach. This approach can be regarded as a strategy for the management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. One consequence of perceiving an ecological network as a means towards sustainable development is the increasing number and diversity of stakeholders and land-use interests that need to be incorporated into the design and that should be part of the management process. In addition, it is evident that the institutionalisation of such a landscape change will greatly benefit from the overall support of the stakeholders, or as Bennett (2004) puts it: "No programme of the breadth and ambition of an ecological network can achieve results without the active support of local communities and key stakeholders.