Editorial.

Of the five papers in this issue of Environments, the first four deal with parks and protected areas and the last with landscape health. The common interest in all the papers is seeking an appropriate relationship between what we call conservation and what we call human use or development. In this context, many salient points are raised by Roberto Gambino in the first paper-Park Policies: A European Perspective. A reading of his paper underlines the fundamental influence of context on what is meant by conservation and development. This is true, not only with reference to parks in many parts of Europe, but also in comparing Europe with the U.S.

In discussing the challenges posed by context, Gambino stresses the value of the park or protected area as an evolving entity whose character is shaped by and should be planned in accordance with the natural and cultural history of the local, regional, national and international situations in which it is located. In this respect, Gambino argues that parks and protected areas are best seen as a social process that blends ecological, historical, cultural and political landscapes and involves communities and institutions across different scales. Parks and protected areas reflect active ongoing dialogues among people and places.

Considerable support is found in Gambino's paper for these arguments and for more wide ranging and collaborative approaches to the evolution, understanding and planning of parks and protected areas within a broad land use matrix. Support and further food for thought are also found in the two following case studies by Stephanie Janetos on Prespa National Park in northern Greece and by Brian Kutas and colleagues on Quetico-BWCA-Voyageurs International Boundary Region, U.S. and Canada. Janetos makes a strong contribution to the understanding of process by focusing on the different perceptions, attitudes and values that four major actor groups bring to bear on Prespa. She discusses the way they have and likely will influence the past and future evolution of this park. Such differences are also a major concern for Kutas and colleagues who focus on the managers of the three parks in their area of concern. In all three cases building greater understanding and promoting more cooperation are seen as highly significan t processes in terms of achieving the goals of all concerned.

In the fourth paper by Lesley Curthoys on the Mary's Point Shorebird Reserve, New Brunswick, Canada, process is again at the forefront. The focus is on the role of community leadership in promoting successful protected area management. Details are provided on what is meant by success as well as on the wide-ranging and sustained commitment required of local leaders. The importance of differing perceptions, attitudes, values, and expectations among concerned actors is stressed as is the need for time to build understanding and support.

The last paper is by Pietro Bertollo on Landscape Evolution and Health in Northeastern Italy. The focus is not on parks and protected areas, but on the problem of deciding how to determine the landscape health of a region. The case study area is the Lower Piave area in the Venetian coastal plain. The challenge is very fundamental. How do we define the health of a landscape that is not wild or highly natural in the American sense--what Bertollo calls a highly governed landscape? He defines these as landscapes that have been changed greatly--transformed by human use over hundreds of years.

Process is a central concern again, not with respect to protected areas, but rather in terms of deciding upon a set of ecological, economic, social and institutional conditions and arrangements to use in judging and managing for the health of the entire landscape or region. Bertollo discusses his use of a complex array of cross-disciplinary theory and research networks to arrive at an answer. He reaches an important conclusion that is similar to the one we raised at the outset of this editorial. Landscape management for health and sustainability has to be considered with respect to its particular context, where this refers not only to specific natural and cultural conditions, but also to land governance norms and cultural values.

Beth Dempster

Gordon Nelson

Editors

November 2002