Demanding more of landscape research (and researchers)

Increasingly complex, global and unexpected environmental issues are likely to occur in the future. At the same time, citizens will become increasingly aware of the effects of these issues. These trends will require new ways of practicing and communicating research. It is crucial for landscape research to address this challenge at the beginning of the new century. Faced with these issues, landscape researchers will have to alternate intra- and interdisciplinary practices of their research, requiring greater skills in communicating among disciplines. They will have to facilitate a wider access to knowledge of landscape analysis by people from southern, particularly tropical, countries. An important aspect of their work will be to participate in the protection of the cultural rights of tribal minorities. They will have to reinforce their partnership with resource managers, their ability to provide more accurate predictions and communication about future landscape scenarios, and, therefore, in answering society's expectations for expertise. Finally, these challenges, confronting landscape research, will not be addressed successfully without theoretical advances, particularly at the level of nature-culture interactions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.