Circular bioeconomy-driven regenerative landscape stewardship - Implications for human resource development and strategic HR Management – a review

Abstract

This article proposes an ecosystem-centred interpretation of landscape stewardship that treats rural, urban, peri-urban, semi-rural and rural territories as connected social-ecological-infrastructural systems rather than as separate policy sectors or tourism products. The argument is that circular bioeconomy-based regeneration is not only a technical agenda of composting, soil conservation, bioenergy, by-product valorisation, water reuse or urban greening. It is a capability transition that depends on human resource development (HRD), strategic human resource management (HRM), multiskilling, occupational health, knowledge governance and place-based leadership. The framework links regenerative organic agriculture, soil-life focused soil conservation and management, urban agriculture, ecological remediation of degraded ecosystems and ecotones, regenerative rural tourism, renewable-energy mixes, landscape observatories and ecomuseums with the Azienda Agricola Model as a practical territorial template for integrating production, hospitality, heritage, education, circular flows and ecosystem stewardship. The distinction between sustainable and regenerative practice is central: sustainability primarily seeks to reduce harm, whereas regeneration seeks verified improvements in ecosystem function, climate resilience, community wellbeing and local economic vitality. The HR implication is that organisations and destinations require T-shaped, place-based, multiskilled workers and managers who can connect soil health, water retention, biodiversity, visitor interpretation, closed-loop resource management, green finance and adaptive monitoring. This study therefore proposes special competent architecture, implementation roadmap and indicator set for regenerative landscape stewardship as an HRD and strategic HRM challenge.