A Final Declaration adopted in Florence on Tuesday 28 October - at the end of the ministerial conference organised by the Council of Europe and the Italian Minister for Culture, Alessandro Giuli, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Council of Europe Landscape Convention (known as the ‘Florence Convention’) - calls for multilateral cooperation to be stepped up and for the Convention to be incorporated into national policies.
This Declaration refers to the Council of Europe Strategy on the Environment, the environmental component of the Reykjavik Declaration, adopted in May 2023 at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government, and the New Democratic Pact for Europe, launched by the Secretary General, Alain Berset, this year.
It insists on the “integration of human rights and democratic governance considerations in the sustainable planning, management, and protection of landscapes”.
Opened for signature in Florence in 2000, the Landscape Convention considers landscapes to be essential to quality of life and cultural heritage.
The Florence Declaration emphasises its role in protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the face of the triple crisis of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss.
“We must both adapt to these challenges and work to mitigate their effects, in both our urban and country”, said Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Link to the Final Declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/j79 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)