Project description
The project aimed to develop and apply a Best Practice Methodology for Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean, to be used as an integrative development and risk-assessment tool for sustainable planning and landscape-scale protection of natural and cultural heritage.
Primary outcomes included:
- Fully tested and regionally adapted methodology for LCA and mapping, described in a written report.
- Landscape character typologies and finished maps at scales 1:250,000 (regional) and 1:50,000 (local), in both paper and electronic form.
- A model approach for community participation in landscape-scale nature protection.
- A risk-modelling software package for land use decision-making, plus distance learning and training materials based on the above.
- A team of trained LCA practitioners in every partner organisation.
- A network of communities actively engaged in developing character-based participatory approaches for sustainable landscape management and land use decision-making, based on the above.
MedINA was responsible for developing the Best Practice Methodology (BPM) for LCA in the Eastern Mediterranean in collaboration with our project partners. In addition, it conducted the LCA process in a pilot area consisting of five municipalities in the Region of Epirus (Ioannina, Zagori, Konitsa, Metsovo and Voreia Tzoumerka). The characterisation process was carried out initially at Level 1 (scale 1:250,000), which included desktop study, fieldwork validation and consultation with local communities, and then at Level 2 (scale 1:50,000), where an assessment was carried out in a smaller area, corresponding to the Municipality of Konitsa.