European Landscape Convention

Multilateral environmental agreement

The European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe, also known as the Florence Convention, is the first international treaty to be exclusively devoted to all aspects of European landscape. It applies to the entire territory of the Parties and covers natural, rural, urban and peri urban areas. It concerns landscapes that might be considered outstanding as well as everyday or degraded landscapes. The Convention is aimed at: the protection, management and planning of all landscapes and raising awareness of the value of a living landscape.

The work on the Convention was initiated by the Congress of Regional and Local Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) in 1994. Within the CLRAE, the draft convention was prepared by a Working Group chaired by different CLRAE members (Cristiana Storelli, Pierre Hitier and François Paour) and co ordinated by Riccardo Priore, Council of Europe's official. The group included the following experts: Régis Ambroise, Michael Dower, Bengt Johansson, Yves Luginbuhl, Michel Prieur and Florencio Zoido Naranjo. The draft Convention was consulted between ministerial representatives, international and non governmental organisations during the CLRAE consultation conference held in Florence from 2 to 4 April 1998, after which the final draft was prepared.

The European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 19 July 2000 in Strasbourg and opened for signature of the Member States of the Organisation in Florence (Italy) on 20 October 2000. It aims to promote European landscape protection, management and planning and to organise European co operation. The Convention came into force on 1 March 2004.

As of 1 April 2020, 40 Council of Europe member states have ratified the Convention: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom. A further state has signed but not ratified it: Malta.

The Convention provides an important contribution to the implementation of the Council of Europe’s objectives, namely to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law and to seek common solutions to the main problems facing European society today. By developing a new territorial culture, the Council of Europe seeks to promote populations’ quality of life and well being. The European Landscape Convention introduced a Europe wide concept centring on the quality of landscape protection, management and planning and covering the entire territory, not just outstanding landscapes. Through its ground breaking approach and its broader scope, it complements the Council of Europe’s and UNESCO’s heritage conventions. After the 6th Conference of Parties held in Strasbourg in 3–4 May 2011, the current president of conference is selected as Portugal and vice chair as Turkey.