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Virtual enclosure, ecosystem services, landscape’s character and the ‘rewilding’ of the commons: the ‘Lake District’ case

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  • Kenneth R. Olwig

Abstract

It is paradoxical that, while there is a generally increasing recognition of the scientific and cultural importance of conserving ‘semi-natural’ pastoral environments, and the negative effects of their widespread abandonment and overgrowth, British ‘rewilding’ activists and environmental managers are effectively advocating policies that will have a similar negative effect on the character of the semi-natural pastoral commons of places like England’s iconic Lake District. This situation, it will be argued, owes to the mindset of ‘virtual enclosure’ whereby the character of landscape is pre-defined by an assumed, behind-the-scenes, Euclidean/Ptolemaic spatial logic that leads to the comprehension of nature as a bounded scenic property; an (e)state of nature with its own economic system and services. This mindset is antithetical to both the practice of pastoral commoning and much contemporary natural science and conservation policy. It fits well, however, with older teleological ideas of nature, as well as modern ideas of privatisation, private property and management control.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth R. Olwig, 2016. "Virtual enclosure, ecosystem services, landscape’s character and the ‘rewilding’ of the commons: the ‘Lake District’ case," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 253-264, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:clarxx:v:41:y:2016:i:2:p:253-264
    DOI: 10.1080/01426397.2015.1135320
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    Cited by:

    1. Geoffrey Griffiths, 2018. "Transferring Landscape Character Assessment from the UK to the Eastern Mediterranean: Challenges and Perspectives," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Theano S. Terkenli & Aikaterini Gkoltsiou & Dimitris Kavroudakis, 2021. "The Interplay of Objectivity and Subjectivity in Landscape Character Assessment: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches and Challenges," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, January.
    3. Michał Sobala, 2020. "Mountain Meadows and Glades of the Carpathians—Type or Element of Landscape? The Problem of Delimitation and Typology of Mountain Pasture Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.

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