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Cultural landscapes have become categories of increasing use in the nominations to the World Heritage, because they provide frameworks for the integration of alternative understandings of heritage into the List. Nevertheless, the concept of cultural landscape takes its roots within a Western naturalist ontology. By assuming this ontology the interpretation of heritage sites is based on the division between nature and culture. The lack of a model of protection designed for the integration of all categories of heritage is evident, with the models used following the culture/nature and tangible/intangible divides.
In order to study this problem, a comparative approach has been used. Two sites from mountain areas have been selected as case studies. The Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park in Spain has been part of the transnational mixed cultural and natural heritage property in the World Heritage List Pyrenees/Mont Perdu since 1997, shared with France. The Archaeological Park of Ollantaytambo, neighbor to the Sanctuary of Machu Picchu in Peru, is included in the serial and transnational property Qhapaq Ñan/Andean Road System inscribed in the List in 2014. These sites are protected under two different models: the first focused on the conservation of nature and the second on the conservation of the past. Nevertheless, both sites have been nominated as cultural landscapes based on the presence of Intangible Cultural Heritage maintained by agropastoral communities inhabiting them. The focus is to put in question the relevance of the concepts of conservation and sustainability in these contexts and to propose landscape management as an alternative that implies maintenance and at the same time adaptation to change.
The methodological design is based on a qualitative approach. The focus is the analysis of the ‘emergent landscape management’, defined as a self-organized process resulting from the interactions between the most influential actors in landscapes – the state, local communities and visitors -, ultimately leading to synergies between these actors’ practices.
The results show that, first, the diversity of approaches to the notion of “landscape” entails the lack of precision of the object to be conserved. The definition set in the Operational Guidelines of the 1972 World Heritage Convention presents the concept from different epistemological perspectives. Contrasted with the criteria under which these sites have been justified as World Heritage Cultural Landscapes, an inherent contradiction is evident between the models of protection and the continuity of the way of life of local communities that represent their heritage value. Second, three landscapes have been identified based upon the model of the emergent landscape management: the landscape as a container; the landscape as habitat; and the landscape as picture. Three sets of maps, corresponding with each group of actors portray the results. Nevertheless, the groups and its understandings are not close. Key actors have been found playing roles in different groups. An overlay of the maps shows the potential for common ground connected by the key actors. Finally, even if these sites represent particular cases, they exemplify the need to reflect upon the inherent contradictions of the current conservation system. In order to develop comprehensive strategies for the viability of cultural landscapes alternatives for the continuity and autonomy of local communities need to be reflected upon.