Dimensions of integration for landscape connectivity planning: a framework for understanding challenges and opportunities

Road networks and other anthropogenic landscape changes fragment habitats, adversely affecting ecosystems and biodiversity. Landscape connectivity strategies have proven as an effective way of addressing this issue; however, implementation in North America has been slow and sparse, largely because of uncoordinated and fragmented approaches to decision making. Accordingly, this research examines key areas and considerations for integrated landscape connectivity planning and policy. The research draws from other work in integrated environmental management that develops and uses “dimensions of integration” frameworks, and it develops such a framework for understanding challenges, opportunities, and critical needs for landscape connectivity. Methods involved semi-structured interviews with government and NGO practitioners, who have been involved in landscape connectivity efforts in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba. Interview data were analyzed using thematic coding techniques, and the analysis elucidated five dimensions of integration for landscape connectivity planning and policy: vertical and spatial, horizontal and teleological, sectoral and stakeholder, ecological, and temporal. The dimensions framework provided a useful lens for understanding the challenges and opportunities associated with integrated landscape connectivity planning, as well as for illuminating how landscape connectivity relates to other critical sustainability issues.