Landscape impact analysis: a systematic approach to landscape impacts of policy

A method for analysis of landscape impacts and for presentation in visual terms was developed by the author and has been applied in Sweden and Norway to policy analysis. The method has successively been developed into a generalized method of landscape impact analysis of policies, programmes and plans — Landscape Impact Analysis (LIA). This deals with the interaction of human and natural systems and the resulting landscape. The method uses scenario techniques as a way of solving the problems of lack of specificity of policy, a problem which seems underestimated in the development of strategic environmental assessment. The paper describes the main steps of the method and shows examples of the application of the method to changes in Norwegian agricultural policy.