Landscape ecological Decision & Evaluation Support System LEDESS : users guide

Abstract

To understand the basic strategies in nature development, it is necessary to examine existing plans and schemes in order to reveal and clarify underlying concepts. Two questions are crucial here: what is the ecological objective, and what is the spatial strategy? The first question is related to the level of the ecosystem. With different types of nature management, different ecosystems can develop at the same site. Nature policy decides which system is to be developed. The second question is related to the landscape as a whole, the spatial pattern of ecosystems. It is taken into account that other activities, such as farming, recreation, water supply and quarrying, also require space. Nature development cannot be considered independently from those activities. Therefore, a spatial strategy is required to combine all land use functions. To find an optimal balance between the two questions, different nature development scenarios are developed