Globalisation, sustainable development and competencies of landscape change in a European perspective

During the last 10 years the collective goals connected with the agenda of sustainable development has been challenged by the globalisation agenda furthering a global liberalised market with the individual producer and consumer in focus. Only in the local planning and management of the concrete landscape the two agendas seems to meet. In a European perspective the European landscape convention has been promoted as a common frame for the promotion of landscape aspect of the sustainability agenda. The paper analyses the EU proposal for a European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) from the perspectives of a globalisation vs. sustainability agenda, focusing on the support for different geographical competences for landscape change devoted to different population groups in the rural community. It is concluded that support for a local sustainable landscape development is depending heavily on the ability and strength of local authorities to unite for such goals, and that detailed analyses of the power balance between different geographical competences in the rural community is necessary to evaluate the possibilities for a sustainable landscape development in rural areas under the conditions of a liberalized globalisation.