On 11-13 October, the ESLAND project partners gathered at the conference in Sassari, Sardinia, to present and discuss the first results of the activities carried out in the framework of this project co-financed by the EU Directorate-General for Education and Culture. The main goal of the project is to study the culture expressed in the European island landscapes in order to contribute to better management and integration of cultural aspects important for the island identity into sustainable development policies and landscape plans. Also, to raise awareness among people of the importance of various cultural landscapes, the landscape patterns developed throughout the centuries to protect the most valuable cultural features of island landscapes for the future. Five European islands, as well as their landscape-related issues, are included in the project: Asinara/Sardinia, Cyprus, Korèula/Croatia, Saaremaa/Estonia, Scilly/UK, and Venice and Murano/Italy.
PAP/RAC’s role is to lead the WP on landscape identity and to concentrate on the Korèula island in Croatia. The mind mapping method will be used in order to “extract” the islanders' views of their islands and in particular their views related to the identification of landscape values important for the island identity.
The implementation of the European Landscape Convention and the ICZM Protocol for the Mediterranean (Article 11 on Coastal Landscapes) in particular are the legal backbones of the project.
