Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
functionality and resilience when compared with other possibilities. The
development of national planning policies may assist with this process
by identifying types of land that would be regarded as generally pref-
erable and those which should not be used for particular development
types, and by requiring planners to conduct a search for the former and
avoid the latter in plan-making.
This
cation in
plan development of areas that should be protected because of their
contribution to sustaining ecological resilience. The identi
'
top-line
'
approach should be backed up by the identi
cation and
designation of certain habitat types and habitats of certain species is
already the core legal method used by the EU and in the UK for
protecting environmentally valuable places.
109
A legal framework for
ecological planning would build on this by extending protection to all
areas identi
ed as being or likely to become of importance for the
functioning of ecosystems. These should be identi
ed through the
assessment of landscapes at ecoregional levels (e.g., watersheds).
110
The spatial breadth of analysis is necessary to understand how separate
sites interact with each other and how they contribute to ecological
processes operating at larger scales.
111
For example, sites that are not
themselves biodiversity hotspots may still be of importance for the
resilience of protected areas. They may be able to offer them support
in the event of disturbance (e.g., by
re) by accommodating biotic
communities that can repopulate damaged areas.
112
Conversely, an
isolated site situated in otherwise unprotected areas may not survive in
the long term because it has no reserves to draw on if it suffers harm.
113
The termmodularity is used in general resilience literature to capture the
desirability of having multiple loosely connected units in ecosystems so
that the demise of one module may not undermine the functioning of the
ecosystem as a whole.
114
109
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 7 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of
wild fauna and
smainlegal
instrument for protecting habitats and species. C. P. Rodgers, The Law of Nature
Conservation: Property, Environment, and the Limits of Law (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2013) provides a full account and analysis of the legal framework for protecting
habitats and species in the UK (including the in
ora [1992] OJ L 206/7 (
'
Habitats Directive
'
) is the EU
'
uence of EU law on this).
110
R. G. Bailey, Ecoregion-based Design for Sustainability (Seacus, NJ: Springer, 2002),
pp. 99
-
101.
111
Ibid
.
112
J. Bengtsson et al.,
'
Reserves, Resilience and Dynamic Landscapes
'
(
2003
)32Ambio,
389
-
96.
113
114
Chapter 2,
Section 2.3.2
.
Ibid
.
