16 - Conclusions: into the twenty-first century

Summary

Before the path existed, one always had to be in an automobile to get anywhere in the community. Now people meet on the path to walk side by side and talk. The path has given the town something to be united about, which has cut across all brackets of income, age, place of residence, and at the same time has preserved the spectacular, previously private riverbank for all to enjoy all seasons of the year.

(A resident of Stowe, Vermont; Schwarz 1993)

The context

Developments in science and in the application of scientific principles are progressing fast. Land use change is progressing even faster. We cannot look far into this new century; still we can detect some important trends and issues. The design of ecological networks is based on concepts, within certain scientific and planning contexts mediating specific values, traditions and relations of power. Some concepts are selective and will only be valid under the particular circumstances in which they were created. Elaborate ideas of a national ecological network make little sense in a big country such as Russia, and would not within the time limits of one generation be given the large amounts of funding that are needed. The more comprehensive ecological networks of the relatively sparsely populated Estonia and Lithuania will be easier to implement than would be the case in Denmark, the Netherlands or Poland. Strategies will also differ between New England and Florida on the one hand, and Argentina and Northern California on the other hand.