In May 2010, IFLA's World Council agreed to support the development of a Global Landscape Convention and called upon the UNESCO to review the feasibility of a new standard setting instrument. The UNESCO, is undertaking a feasibility study to explain the need for a new normative tool in this area expected to be ready by January 2011.

There are precedents to build upon. One of the most notable examples is the European Landscape Convention (ELC). The ELC gives the landscape its proper status, not as the bits left in between the buildings, developments, highways and town centrescenters, or as a vague blanket cover that will look after itself, but as the context upon and within which these dynamic processes take place.

Another precedent is the Colombian Landscape Charter, drawn up by the Society of Landscape Architects (SAP). It is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles to promote the recognition, evaluation, protection, planning and management of Colombian landscapes.

For information on the European Landscape Convention, please see: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/landscape/default_en.asp

For information about the Colombian landscape charter, please see: http://convencionglobal-cartadepaisaje-mf.blogspot.com/ or www.sapcolombia.org

Click here to download the text agreed upon at IFLA's World Council held in Suzhou, P.R. China.