Ireland signed and ratified the European Landscape Convention in March 2002.

To date 32 states have signed the convention and 20 of them have ratified. The convention entered into force on the 1st March 2004.

Comprehensive information on the convention can be obtained at www.coe.int/europeanlandscapeconvention

This is a great moment in ethical and aesthetic thought and it is wonderful for Florence and Europe.

You must feel it as an important step in European thinking, representing as it does a more reasoned and broad perception of the concept of landscape. 

Now we have a defined concept and the Convention places it in the middle of Community logic.

There has in the past, been an infatuation with scenic landscapes.

With this Convention Europe has achieved a proud change. Landscape has been given dignity.

The Convention is a bearer of testimony, providing a philosophical basic for its objectives. 

Europe is grappling with a new economy and at this time it is a great privilage to be associated with the European Landscape Convention which should ensure that our landscape will be safeguarded and will always be seen as part of our heritage bringing together nature and history.

Our landscape has been shaped and marked by history.

The Convention will ensure that future changes in the landscape will be studied carefully and implemented sensitively.

I salute and thank the Council of Europe for bringing this Convention to fruition.

Mario Luzi (Italian Poet)

Ministerial Conference for the Opening for Signature of the European Landscape Convention.