Land valuation and marginalization processes in cultural landscapes - a comparative study of valuation systems related to natural and semi-natural areas

It is becoming an increasingly important research topic in landscape ecology and related fields to develop spatially explicit valuation procedures for cultural landscapes. This is the case for example of research on ecosystem services where aesthetic, recreational, identity-related and other not easily tangible aspects of natural and semi-natural areas are receiving increased interest, and where attempts to develop spatially weighted quantification measures for intangible landscape functions is being undertaken. This renewed interest in landscape intangibles seems to be motivated by a growing awareness that the behavior of rural landscape managers reflect culture, and that cultural valuation systems need to be included in research addressing such themes as sustainability and multifunctionality which is often difficult to regulate effectively and depend directly on local decision behavior. Two parallel approaches to how such valuations are developed and transformed into policy seems to exist: (1) A "bottom-up" approach, in which collaborative and locally experienced perspectives on the landscape are considered primary, and (2) A "top-down" approach relying on biological, landscape ecological and other types of expert-based designations of historical, natural, scenic and biodiversity-related values in the landscape.
While both of these approaches reflect real aspects of the landscapes they are used to valuate, they represent two essentially different conceptions of how regulation and designation schemes can and should balance the relation between land use and natural resources in cultural landscapes. In order to investigate the interaction between local conceptions of value, conservation designations based on landscape ecological expertise, and physical land cover, a case study was conducted in 2008 - 2010 in the Maribo Lakes Nature Park, which is a Natura-2000 protected area situated on the island of Lolland in Southern Denmark. The major land owners, leaders in the tourism industry and leaders of local recreational associations in the area were interviewed about their land use practices, their preferences for different areas and their valuation procedures related to landscape and land cover. The maps developed with the interviewees were compared with maps delineating the 205 Natura-2000 habitat areas in the nature park which were designated by the Danish Nature Agency in 2006. Results of a comparative analysis of expert-based valuations and local conceptions of natural value will be presented. Possible points of intersection between the two approaches will be identified, and it will be discussed how the two valuation systems relate to each other and correlate with patterns of land use and land cover in the case area.