In our Strategy for Sustainable Land Management, we suggest four principles to guide the development of policy and practice.
Related Publications
A strategy for sustainable land management in England See publication

Principles of sustainable land management

A farm in the Shropshire Hills.
In our Strategy for Sustainable Land Management, we suggest four principles to guide the development of policy and practice.

 

Principle 1.  Multi-functionality: land should be managed to deliver a wide range of benefits beyond food and fibre production.

These include: wildlife and distinctive landscape character; opportunities for public access; and flood protection and water management.

Principle 2.  Sustainability: land management should reflect the principles of sustainable development.

In other words, land management should:

  • safeguard the primary environmental resources of air, soils and water;
  • contribute to long term robust and adaptable rural economies;
  • maintain and enhance landscapes, countryside character, biodiversity, historic and cultural values;
  • support rural communities - especially the people whose livelihoods depend on it, directly or indirectly.       

Principle 3.  Integration: land management must be integrated with rural development.

Land management underpins other parts of the rural economy, for example by supplying products directly and indirectly (by maintaining the landscape) upon which rural tourism is based.  Businesses based on land management provide business for other rural firms.

Principle 4.  Subsidiarity: a framework which can reflect regional and local needs and aspirations.

People should have a greater voice in shaping land management to deliver public benefits - while still reflecting the fact that most land will remain in private ownership.

These four principles of sustainable land management guide and inform our work.