Living Landscapes

Creating A Living Landscape involves the creation of robust, resilient and connected landscapes on a vast scale. Landscapes which are: highly valued and accessible to people; full of wildlife and rich in opportunities for learning, health and wellbeing. What is good for wildlife is good for people too. Living Landscapes help local communities and businesses to thrive. They are all about sustainable local economies. And they will safeguard our wildlife through an unprecedented period of climate change, and in the face of huge changes to agriculture and industry.

The ultimate aim is a series of Living Landscapes, linked together across the length and breadth of the UK. This will re-connect our urban and rural areas, freshwater and coast. Beyond the coast, the connections continue to create Living Seas.

On the physical level Living Landscapes consist of:

a) Core areas of high quality wildlife habitat. Often these will be protected areas, nature reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) etc. These provide vital wildlife sanctuaries and centres. From these wildlife will be able to recolonise the landscape once it is restored.

b) Connections between core areas. These come in the form of both corridors – or wildlife highways – and also stepping stones which can link a landscape of isolated patches into one large unit. These provide functional connectivity across a landscape, not just physical connectivity ie they enable the landscape to work for wildlife.

c) Permeability across the whole landscape. Land between core areas and functional connections should be permeable to wildlife movement. It may not all be perfect habitat but could be sub-optimal habitat, allowing movement if not long-term survival. Actions here centre on adapting land use eg with less intensive agriculture.

Living Landscapes is a vision shared by all The Wildlife Trusts, across the whole UK. Some of county Wildlife Trusts already have landscape-scale schemes in place. In Cheshire our first Living Landscape initiative is the Gowy and Mersey Washlands.