ABOUT
To Reveal
The nature of wild landscapes and to help people see why it is so important to conserve them
Our collective of artists, scholars, naturalists, and activists work together......
To Safegaurd
Fragile landscapes and envision cohesive identities for them
To Enhance
Ecological networks and habitats by working with scientists, policy makers and others engaged in promoting environmental health
To Collaborate
With various ownership and management groups to promote cohesive stewardship plan
ONE LANDSCAPE approaches conservation as a creative act.
We aim to shift the culture of conservation from one that objectifies nature to one that understands humans as integral to natural systems.
Our Mission
We bring individuals, institutions, policymakers, and communities together, and we integrate art, science, policy, and community into the process of conserving wild landscapes.
Through these collaborations, we create sustainable conservation roadmaps and cohesive management strategies for precious wild landscapes throughout the world.
Origin Story
ONE LANDSCAPE was inspired by the example of two brothers who established a vast ecological preserve in the Sahyadri range of India’s Western Ghats. Starting in the mid 1990s, William and Denzil de Souza spent years acquiring almost 3,000 acres of this iconic landscape of plains and peaks. Sensing that the area would soon face environmental challenges posed by luxury development, the de Souzas wanted to safeguard part of this endangered landscape for future generations. They pursued sustainable planning and building practices in the design for a 320-acre, income-generating wellness retreat at the heart of the site, planting more than a million trees and shrubs to restore the degraded landscape. The brothers founded the Shillim Institute, ONE LANDSCAPE’s sister organization, as a platform for ideas and action in the areas of conservation, sustainability, and wellness. One goal of the Shillim Institute is to educate developers and homeowners as to better practices in designing and constructing within this fragile landscape; its programs have expanded to include innovative approaches to community health. Today, the Shillim Institute has become a leader in promoting conservation of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and ecological hotspot.
ONE LANDSCAPE grew out of Margie Ruddick’s two decades of working on planning and design within the Shillim Valley, and the development of the Shillim Institute, to take this innovative approach to conserving wild landscapes to places around the world that need cohesive conservation plans. The first two wild landscapes ONE LANDSCAPE has focused on are Shillim, where the need for better development practices is clear; and Napeague, the wild coastal landscape beyond the intensely developed area known as The Hamptons. This area has faced pressures from luxury development that are similar to those faced by Shillim, and pose similar environmental risks. We have spent recent years in both of these landscapes, testing methods for integrating scientists, artists, policy makers and others in revealing these unique ecologies, and advocating for comprehensive, cohesive conservation plans. ONE LANDSCAPE aims to move on to other wild landscapes – remote or more urbanized; aggregations of properties or privately held preserves - in the near future.
