Il ruolo del paesaggio nella realizzazione dei diritti dell’uomo

The position of a right to landscape and, in particular, landscape’s contribution to human rights are the focus of this paper. With the advent of the European Landscape Convention, landscape came to be seen not only as an individual right but also as a collective one. The enjoyment of landscape being at once an individual and a collective experience, it allows diverse cultures to exist side by side on the same territory. Held up as the first international convention on sustainable development in the 21st century, the European Landscape Convention effectively sets the standard in this area. Landscape is about striking a harmonious balance between social, economic, environmental and cultural needs. Its dual aspect, natural and cultural, means that people’s natural and cultural heritage need to be considered simultaneously. Landscape, then, mirrors the complexity of the territory concerned and is an expression of the symbiosis between the human need for high-quality spaces conducive to social equilibrium and wellbeing, and nature’s need for balance, based on biodiversity. In order to shine a light on the complex relationship between human rights and territory, as perceived by human beings through landscape, this paper deals with the following issues: (i) the universality of human rights in relation to landscape, (ii) the complementarities and conflicts between human rights as they relate to landscape, (iii) the landscape as a shared, common space, (iv) the list of human rights realised thanks to the European Landscape Convention (the right to well-being, quality of life and sustainable development; the right to health; the right to dignity and to non-discrimination; the right to participate in cultural life; the right to landscape for all and landscape as a common resource; the right to education; the right to information and to participation; the right to compensation and restoration; the right to continued enjoyment of a certain quality of landscape or the right to non-regression).