The introduction of voluntary instruments since the beginning of the 21st century indicates that the conventional instruments are not sufficient to conserve nature, manage landscapes and develop cultural landscapes in the long term. The new instruments differ in some important points when compared with the conventional instruments (Table 1). The landscape management associations and PLENUM serve as bridges between diverse actors and groups (Olsson et al. 2004; Hahn et al. 2006). In the case of the landscape management associations, it is a bridge between nature conservation bodies, farmers, foresters, and local government to better coordinate nature conservation and landscape management activities. In comparison, PLENUM is a more complex bridging organisation for cultural landscape development (Crona and Parker 2012). PLENUM proposes that nature conservation in cultural landscapes is only achievable in the long term through some form of utilisation and, therefore, focuses on an integrated regional development approach from the bottomup.