Governance Challenges of a Local Landscape Observatory Initiative in a Remote Landscape: Ways Ahead

Following the recommendations of the European Landscape Convention for the establishment of landscape observatories (LO), there has been a plethora of governance models put in place. This article reports on the governance challenges of the local LO of Charneca (Portugal) arising from its bottom-up approach in a peripheral and low-density territory. The objective of this paper is to analyze the stakeholders in the Charneca landscape and its landscape observatory. Methodologically, a social network analysis is used to identify the position of actors in the network and the density of relations. The results disclose the position of the LO within the network, notably its close relationship to the estate where it is located and to the local administration, leading to the conclusion that including other actors and local governments to go beyond the borders of the Chamusca municipality in which the observatory is located is pivotal to enabling action at a landscape scale.