This book offers perspectives on how to develop a sustainable global balance of urbanization, land-use intensification, land abandonment, and multifunctional cultural landscapes. The focus is on the latter by describing the large variety of traditional cultural landscapes having evolved through centuries or even millennia by the use of the natural, terrestrial and aquatic resources. Those cultural landscapes encompass pasture, agroforestry, terraced, irrigation, coastal, monastic, and sacred landscapes as well as lake-, river-, and saltscapes. The restoration of low-input land-use systems which often carry a high biodiversity on the species, ecosystem, and landscape level as well as agrobiodiversity and agrodiversity is outlined. The restoration of multifunctional and diverse landscapes, however, is not only an ecological issue but encompasses many socio-economic aspects such as e.g., the revitalization of villages, eco-tourism, healthy food production, infrastructure, and rural-urbanpartnerships. Global environmental problems, which are related to urbanization and the intensification of the use of land and water resources are comprehensively outlined. Land abandonment which occurs on all continents is qualitatively and quantitatively assessed and the consequences for natural and cultural heritage loss is highlighted. With the presentation of current rural development and landscape conservation strategies on the national as well as international level, the topic reflects the high significance of environmental policy on the global scale. The global implementation of natural and cultural heritage conservation is, for example, given by the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites, High Nature Value Farmland, and the Satoyama initiative. However, also the "every-day" landscapes can contribute to biodiversity and strong sustainability.

This comprehensive compendium, based on about 4,000 references of scientific studies, literature reviews, project reports, and environmental policy papers is thought for all students, scholars, and stakeholders from multifaceted disciplines, interested in multifunctional cultural landscapes and how traditions and innovation on the landscape level can be merged for a sustainable future on our planet. Case studies from all over the world are presented which can be used in Higher Education or to demonstrate the numerous approaches of sustainable rural development.

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Foreword Part I: Introduction - Traditional cultural landscapes in the world 1. Traditional cultural landscapes - a theoretical framework Basics on definitions of landscapes and cultural landscapes are outlined referring to contributions from geography, landscape ecology, and environmental sciences. Particularly, the meaning of "traditional" is specified as a basis for this book. 2. Types of traditional cultural landscapes throughout the world Traditional cultural landscapes having evolved all over the world during millennia or centuries are categorized and described. Under focus are all landscapes which have been or still are used mostly in an extensive way. 2.1 Forest landscapes 2.2 Agroforestry landscapes 2.3 Pasture landscapes 2.4 Terraced landscapes 2.5 Irrigation landscapes 2.6 Lakescapes 2.7 Riverscapes 2.8 Coastal landscapes and seascapes 2.9 Hunting and park landscapes 2.10 Monastic landscapes 2.11 Sacred and spiritual landscapes 3. What's so important about traditional cultural landscapes? Reasons for the maintenance, preservation, and restoration of traditional cultural landscape are outlined, focusing on ecosystem services, including biodiversity and human health as well as on traditional ecological knowledge still present and practiced by the local communities. 3.1 Ecosystem services of traditional cultural landscapes 3.1.1 Provisioning and regulation services 3.1.2 Biodiversity 3.1.3 Cultural ecosystem and landscape services 3.2 Traditional cultural landscapes as healthy environments 3.3 Traditional ecological knowledge as an asset of traditional cultural landscapes 4. Traditional cultural landscapes as real laboratories for strong sustainability A new paradigm is introduced which aims at traditional cultural landscapes as real labs for strong sustainability and the maintenance of biodiversity and agrobiodiversity, respectively. Part II: A sustainable balance between intensively and extensively used landscapes 5. Global land-use development trends: Traditional cultural landscapes under threat The worldwide threats on traditional cultural landscapes are discussed, taking urbanization and land-use intensification into account. A particular focus is laid on land abandonment which can be observed all over the globe, in remote mountain areas as well as in the lowlands. 5.1 Urbanization and the continuous growth of cities and megacities 5.1.1 Urban environment and human health 5.1.2 Food supply and food waste in cities 5.1.3 Overcrowded cities and social inequalities 5.2 Intensification of agriculture throughout the world 5.2.1 Environmental problems related to land-use intensification 5.2.2 Socio-economic impacts of land-use intensification - the fake of innovation 5.3 Abandonment of traditional cultural landscapes throughout the world 5.3.1 Land abandonment in Europe 5.3.2 Land abandonment in Asia 5.3.3 Land abandonment in Africa 5.3.4 Land abandonment in Latin America 5.3.5 Land abandonment in North America 5.3.6 Land abandonment in Australia 5.3.7 Land abandonment as a part of global change: a synthesis 6. Developing a sustainable balance between urban, rural and natural landscapes The leading idea of merging traditions and innovation in the revitalization, restoration and sustainable development, respectively, of traditional and multifunctional landscapes is coined. Part III: Traditional cultural landscapes on the world's agenda 7. National and international initiatives for the maintenance of traditional cultural landscapes There are manifold initiatives throughout the world from the regional and national to the international and global level to maintain and restore traditional cultural landscapes as our natural and cultural heritage. These initiatives are comprehensively introduced and described. 7.1 National rural development programs and funding schemes 7.2 International initiatives for the preservation and restoration of traditional cultural landscapes 7.2.1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites 7.2.2 Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) 7.2.3 National parks 7.2.4 Biosphere reserves 7.2.5 European Landscape Convention 7.2.6 High Nature Value (HNV) Farmland 7.2.7 ASEAN Declaration on Cultural Heritage 7.2.8 Latin American Landscape Initiative 7.2.9 Santiago de Cuba Declaration on Cultural Landscapes in the Caribbean 7.2.10 International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) 7.2.11 Landscapes for People, Food and Nature (LPFN) 7.2.12 The Japanese satoyama Initiative Part IV: Restoration and revitalization of traditional cultural landscapes towards multifunctionality 8. Short introduction to restoration ecology and ecosystem restoration History, aims and concepts of restoration ecology and ecosystem restoration are shortly outlined based on the up-to-date state of the art of this ecological discipline. A particular focus is laid on the inter- and transdisciplinarity of restoration ecology. An overview of measures for the restoration of ecosystems is given based on the comprehensive textbook of Zerbe (2019, Springer Publ.). 8.1 History, aims, and concepts 8.2 Ecosystem restoration is an acid test for ecology 8.3 Ecosystem restoration beyond restoration ecology 8.4 References for the restoration of traditional cultural landscapes 8.5 Measures for the restoration of ecosystems 9 A century of practice and experiences of ecosystem restoration - examples throughout the world Examples of the practice of ecosystem restoration are given b…