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Ecosystem management is an approach to natural resource management that aims to ensure the long-term sustainability and persistence of an ecosystems function and
service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
s while meeting socioeconomic, political, and cultural needs. Although
indigenous communities Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
have employed sustainable ecosystem management approaches for millennia, ecosystem management emerged formally as a concept in the 1990s from a growing appreciation of the complexity of ecosystems, as well as humans' reliance and influence on natural systems (e.g., disturbance,
ecological resilience In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly. Such perturbations and disturbances can include stochastic events such as fires, flooding, windst ...
). Building upon traditional natural resource management, ecosystem management integrates ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional knowledge and priorities through diverse stakeholder participation. In contrast to command and control approaches to natural resource management, which often lead to declines in
ecological resilience In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly. Such perturbations and disturbances can include stochastic events such as fires, flooding, windst ...
, ecosystem management is a holistic, adaptive method for evaluating and achieving resilience and sustainability. As such, implementation is context-dependent and may take a number of forms, including
adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over ...
, strategic management, and
landscape-scale conservation Landscape-scale conservation is a holistic approach to landscape management, aiming to reconcile the competing objectives of nature conservation and economic activities across a given landscape. Landscape-scale conservation may sometimes be attemp ...
.


Formulations

The term “ecosystem management” was formalized in 1992 by F. Dale Robertson, former Chief of the
U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
. Robertson stated, “By ecosystem management, we mean an ecological approach…
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
must blend the needs of people and environmental values in such a way that the National Forests and Grasslands represent diverse, healthy, productive and sustainable ecosystems.” A variety of additional definitions of ecosystem management exist, although definitions of this concept are typically vague. For example, Robert T. Lackey emphasizes that ecosystem management is informed by ecological and social factors, motivated by societal benefits, and implemented over a specific timeframe and area. F. Stuart Chapin and co-authors highlight that ecosystem management is guided by ecological science to ensure the long-term sustainability of
ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...
, while Norman Christensen and coauthors underscore that it is motivated by defined goals, employs adaptive practices, and accounts for the complexities of ecological systems. Peter Brussard and colleagues suggest ecosystem management balances preserving ecosystem health while sustaining human needs. As a concept of natural resource management, ecosystem management remains both ambiguous and controversial, in part because some of its formulations rest on contested policy and scientific assertions. These assertions are important to understanding much of the conflict surrounding ecosystem management. Professional natural resource managers, typically operating from within government bureaucracies and professional organizations, often mask debate over controversial assertions by depicting ecosystem management as an evolution of past management approaches.


Principles of ecosystem management

A fundamental principle of ecosystem management is the long-term sustainability of the production of goods and services by ecosystems, as "intergenerational sustainability sa precondition for management, not an afterthought". Ideally, there should be clear, publicly-stated goals with respect to future trajectories and behaviors of the system being managed. Other important requirements include a sound ecological understanding of the system, including connectedness, ecological dynamics, and the context in which the system is embedded. An understanding of the role of humans as components of the ecosystems and the use of
adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over ...
is also important. While ecosystem management can be used as part of a plan for
wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
conservation, it can also be used in intensively managed ecosystems (e.g.,
agroecosystem Agroecosystems are the ecosystems supporting the food production systems in our farms and gardens. As the name implies, at the core of an agroecosystem lies the human activity of agriculture. As such they are the basic unit of study in Agroecology, ...
and
close to nature forestry Close to nature forestry is a management approach treating forest as an ecological system performing multiple functions. Close to nature silviculture tries to achieve the management objectives with minimum necessary human intervention aimed at ac ...
). Core principles and common themes of ecosystem management: #Systems thinking: Management has a holistic perspective, instead of focusing on a particular level of biological hierarchy in an ecosystem (e.g., only conserving a specific species; only preserving ecosystem functioning). #Ecological boundaries: Ecological boundaries are clearly and formally defined, and management is place-based and may require working across political or administrative boundaries. #Ecological integrity: Management is focused on maintaining or reintroducing native
biological diversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') le ...
, and on preserving natural disturbance regimes and other key processes that sustain resilience. #Data collection: Broad ecological research and data collection is needed to inform effective management (e.g., species diversity, habitat types, disturbance regimes, etc.). #Monitoring: The impacts of management methods are tracked, allowing for their outcomes to be evaluated and modified, if needed. #Adaptive management: Management is an iterative process in which methods are continuously reevaluated as new scientific knowledge is gained. #Interagency cooperation: As ecological boundaries often cross administrative boundaries, management requires cooperation among a range of agencies and private stakeholders. #Organizational change: Successful implementation of management requires shifts in the structure and operation of land management agencies. #Humans and nature: Nature and people are intrinsically linked, and humans shape, and are shaped by, ecological processes. #Values: Humans play a key role in guiding management goals, which reflect a stage in the continuing evolution of social values and priorities.


History


Pre-industrialization

Sustainable ecosystem management approaches have been used by societies throughout human history. Prior to colonization,
Indigenous cultures Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
often sustainably managed their natural resources through intergenerational traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). In TEK, cultures acquire knowledge of their environment over time and this information is passed on to future generations through cultural customs, including folklore, religion, and taboos. Traditional management strategies vary by region, and examples include the burning of the
longleaf pine ecosystem The longleaf pine ecosystem is a climax savanna habitat found within the Southern United States; it includes many rare plant and animal species, and is one of the most biodiverse in North America. Once the largest ecosystem in North America, it n ...
by Native Americans in what is today the southeastern United States; the ban of seabird
guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. ...
harvest during the breeding season by the Inca; the sustainable harvest practices of glaucous-winged gull eggs by the Huna Tlingit; and the Maya ''
milpa Milpa is a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica. It has been most extensively described in the Yucatán peninsula area of Mexico. The word ''milpa'' is derived from the Nahuatl word phrase ''mil-pa'', which translates into "cultivat ...
'' intercropping approach, which is still used today.


Post-industrialization

In industrialized Western society, ecosystems have been managed primarily to maximize yields of a particular natural resource. This method to managing ecosystems can be seen by the
U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
's shift away from sustaining ecosystem health and toward maximizing timber production to support residential development following World War II. Further, underlying traditional natural resource management is the view that each ecosystem has a single equilibrium and minimizing variation around this equilibrium results in more dependable, greater yields of natural resources. For example, this perspective informed the long-held belief in forest fire suppression in the United States, which has driven a decline in populations of fire-tolerant species as well as fuel buildup, leading to higher intensity fires. Additionally, traditional approaches to managing natural systems tended to be site- and species-specific, rather than considering all components of an ecosystem collectively; employ a “command and control” approach; and exclude stakeholders from management decisions. The latter half of the 20th century saw a paradigm shift in how ecosystems were viewed, with a growing appreciation for the importance of disturbance and for the intrinsic link between natural resources and overall ecosystem health. Simultaneously, there was acknowledgement of society's resilience on
ecosystem service Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...
s, beyond provisioning goods, and of the inextricable role human-environment interactions play in ecosystems. In sum, ecosystems were increasingly seen as complex systems, shaped by non-linear processes, and thus, they could not be managed to achieve a single, predictable outcome. As a result of these complexities and often unforeseeable feedbacks from management strategies, DeFries and Nagendra deem ecosystem management to be a “
wicked problem In planning and policy, a wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. It refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fi ...
”. Thus, the outcome of traditional natural resource management's "evolution" over the course of the 20th century is ecosystem management, which explicitly recognizes that technical and scientific knowledge, though necessary in all approaches to natural resource management, are insufficient alone.


Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who are affected by or have an interest in ecosystem management decisions and actions. Stakeholders may also have power to influence the goals, policies, and outcomes of management. Ecosystem management stakeholders fall into the following groups based on their diverse concerns: # Stakeholders whose lives are ''directly'' tied to the ecosystem (e.g., members of local community) # Stakeholders who are not directly not impacted, but have an interest in the ecosystem or its ecosystem services (e.g., NGOs, recreational groups) # Stakeholders concerned with the decision-making processes (e.g., environmental advocacy groups) # Stakeholders funding management plans (e.g., taxpayers, funding agencies) # Stakeholders representing public interest (e.g., public officials)


Strategies to stakeholder participation

The complexity of ecosystem management decisions, ranging from local to international scales, requires the participation of stakeholders with diverse understandings, perceptions, and values of ecosystems and
ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...
. Due to these complexities, effective ecosystem management is flexible and develops reciprocal trust around issues of common interest, with the objective of creating mutually beneficial partnerships. Key attributes of successful participatory ecosystem management efforts have been identified: * Stakeholder involvement is inclusive, equitable, and focused on trust-building and empowerment. * Stakeholders are engaged early on, and their involvement continues beyond decision and into management. *
Stakeholder analysis Stakeholder analysis (in conflict resolution, business administration, environmental health sciences decision making, Industrial ecology, and project management) is the process of assessing a system and potential changes to it as they relate to rele ...
is performed to ensure parties are appropriately represented. This involves determining the stakeholders involved in the management issue; categorizing stakeholders based on their interest in and influence on the issue; and evaluating relationships between stakeholders. * Stakeholders agree upon the aims of the participatory process from its beginning, and the means and extent of stakeholder participation are case-specific. * Stakeholder participation is conducted through skilled facilitation. * Social, economic, and ecological goals are equally weighed, and stakeholders are actively involved in decision making, which is arrived at by collective consensus. * Stakeholders continually monitor management plan’s effectiveness. * Multidisciplinary data are collected, reflecting multidisciplinary priorities, and decisions are informed by both local and scientific knowledge. * Economic incentives are provided to parties responsible for implementing management plans. * To ensure long-term stakeholder involvement, participation is institutionalized.


Examples of stakeholder participation

Malpai Borderland management: In the early 1990s, there was ongoing conflict between the ranching and environmentalist communities in the Malpai Borderlands. The former group was concerned about sustaining their livelihoods, while the latter was concerned about the environmental impacts of livestock grazing. The groups found common ground around conserving and restoring rangeland, and diverse stakeholders, including ranchers, environmental groups, scientists, and government agencies, were engaged in management discussions. In 1994, the rancher-led Malpai Borderlands Group was created to collaboratively pursue the goals of ecosystem protection, management, and restoration. Helge å River & Kristianstads Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve: In the 1980s, local government agencies and environmental groups noted declines in the health of the Helge å River ecosystem, including eutrophication, bird population declines, and deterioration of flooded meadows areas. There was concern that the Helge å, a
Ramsar Wetland of International Importance This is the list of Wetlands of International Importance as defined by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientif ...
, faced an imminent tipping point. In 1989, led by a municipal organization, a collaborative management strategy was adopted, involving diverse stakeholders concerned with the ecological, social, and economic facets of the ecosystem. The Kristianstads Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve was established in 2005 to promote the preservation of the ecosystem's socio-ecological services.


Strategies to ecosystem management

Several strategies to implementing the maintenance and restoration of natural and human-modified ecosystem exist. Command and control management and traditional natural resource management are the precursors to ecosystem management.
Adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over ...
, strategic management, and landscape-level conservation are different methodologies and processes involved in implementing ecosystem management:


Command and control management

Command and control management utilizes a linear problem solving approach, in which a perceived problem is resolved through controlling devices such as laws, threats, contracts, and/or agreements. This top-down approach is used across many disciplines, and it is best suited for addressing relatively simple, well-defined problems, which have a clear cause and effect, and for which there is broad societal agreement as to policy and management goals. In the context of natural systems, command and control management attempts to control nature in order to improve resource extractions, establish predictability, and reduce threats. Command and control strategies include the use of herbicides and pesticides to improve crop yields; the culling of predators to protect game bird species; and the safeguarding of timber supply, by suppressing forest fires. However, due to the complexities of ecological systems, command and control management may result in unintended consequences. For example, wolves were extirpated from Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1920s to reduce elk predation. Long-term studies of wolf, elk, and tree populations since wolf reintroduction in 1995 demonstrate that reintroduction has decreased elk populations, improving tree species recruitment. Thus, by controlling ecosystems to limit natural variation and increase predictability, command and control management often leads to a decline the resilience of ecological, social, and economic systems, termed the “pathology of natural resource management”. In this “pathology”, an initially successful ''command and control'' practice drives relevant ''institutions'' to shift their focus toward control, over time obscuring the ecosystem’s natural behavior, while the ''economy'' becomes reliant on the system in its controlled state. Consequently, there has been a transition away from command and control management, and increased focus on more holistic adaptive management approaches and on arriving at management solutions through partnerships between stakeholders.


Natural resource management

The term natural resource management is frequently used in relation to a particular resource for human use, rather than the management of a whole ecosystem. Natural resource management aims to fulfill the societal demand for a given resource without causing harm to the ecosystem, or jeopardizing the future of the resource. Due to its focus on natural resources, socioeconomic factors significantly affect this management approach. Natural resource managers initially measure the overall condition of an ecosystem, and if the ecosystem's resources are healthy, the ideal degree of resource extraction is determined, which leaves enough to allow the resource to replenish itself for subsequent harvests. The condition of each resource in an ecosystem is subject to change at different spatial and time scales, and ecosystem attributes, such as
watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
and soil health, and species diversity and abundance, need to be considered individually and collectively. Informed by natural resource management, the ecosystem management concept is based on the relationship between sustainable ecosystem maintenance and human demand for natural resources and other
ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...
. To achieve these goals, ecosystem managers can be appointed to balance natural resource extraction and conservation over a long-term timeframe. Partnerships between ecosystem managers, natural resource managers, and stakeholders should be encouraged in order to promote the sustainable use of limited natural resources. Historically, some ecosystems have experienced limited resource extraction and have been able to subsist naturally. Other ecosystems, such as forests, which in many regions provide considerable timber resources, have undergone successful reforestation and consequently, have accommodated the needs of future generations. As human populations grow, introducing new stressors to ecosystems, such as climate change, invasive species,
land-use change Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), also referred to as Forestry and other land use (FOLU), is defined by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat as a " greenhouse gas inventory sector that covers emissions and removals of gr ...
, and
habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological process ...
, future demand for natural resources is unpredictable. Although ecosystem changes may occur gradually, their cumulative impacts can have negative effects for both humans and wildlife. Geographic information system (GIS) applications and
remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...
can be used to monitor and evaluate natural resources and ecosystem health.


Adaptive management

Adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over ...
is based on the concept that predicting future influences and disturbances to an ecosystem is limited and unclear. Therefore, an ecosystem should be managed to it maintain the greatest degree of ecological integrity and management practices should have the ability to change based on new experience and insights. In an adaptive management strategy, a hypotheses about an ecosystem and its functioning is formed, and then management techniques to test these hypotheses are implemented.United States Department of Interior. Technical Guide: Chapter 1: What is Adaptive Management? Viewed 8 Sep. 2010.http://www.doi.gov/initiatives/AdaptiveManagement/TechGuide/Chapter1.pdf The implemented methods are then analyzed to evaluate if ecosystem health improved or declined, and further analysis allows for the modification of methods until they successfully meet the needs of the ecosystem. Thus, adaptive management is an iterative approach, encouraging “informed trial-and-error”. This management approach has had mixed success in the field of ecosystem management,
fisheries management The goal of fisheries management is to produce sustainable biological, environmental and socioeconomic benefits from renewable aquatic resources. Wild fisheries are classified as renewable when the organisms of interest (e.g., fish, shellfish, ...
,
wildlife management Wildlife management is the management process influencing interactions among and between wildlife, its habitats and people to achieve predefined impacts. It attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best availabl ...
, and
forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management for ...
, possibly because ecosystem managers may not be equipped with the decision-making skills needed to undertake an adaptive management methodology. Additionally, economic, social, and political priorities can interfere with adaptive management decisions. For this reason, for adaptive management to be successful it must be a social and scientific process, focusing on institutional strategies while implementing experimental management techniques.


Strategic management

As it relates to ecosystem management,
strategic management In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessment ...
encourages the establishment of goals that will sustain an ecosystem while keeping socioeconomic and politically relevant policy drivers in mind. This approach differs from other types of ecosystem management because it emphasizes stakeholders involvement, relying on their input to develop the best management strategy for an ecosystem. Similar to other methods of ecosystem management, strategic management prioritizes evaluating and reviewing any impacts of management intervention on an ecosystem, and flexibility in adapting management protocols as a result of new information.


Landscape-level conservation

Landscape-level (or landscape-scale) conservation is a method that considers
wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted fo ...
needs at a broader landscape scale when implementing conservation initiatives. By considering broad-scale, interconnected ecological systems, landscape-level conservation acknowledges the full scope of an environmental problem. Implementation of landscape-scale conservation is carried out in a number of ways. A
wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat (ecology), habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of i ...
, for example, provides a connection between otherwise isolated habitat patches, presenting a solution to
habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological process ...
. In other instances, the habitat requirements of a keystone or vulnerable species is assessed to identify the best strategies for protecting the ecosystem and the species. However, simultaneously addressing the habitat requirements of multiple species in an ecosystem can be difficult, and as a result, more comprehensive approaches have been considered in landscape-level conservation. In human-dominated landscapes, weighing the habitat requirements of wild flora and fauna versus the needs of humans presents challenges. Globally, human-induced environmental degradation is an increasing problem, which is why landscape-level approaches play an important role in ecosystem management. Traditional conservation methods targeted at individual species may need to be modified to include the maintenance of habitats through the consideration of both human and ecological factors.


See also

* Ecosystem-based management * Ecosystem Management Decision Support *
Sustainable forest management Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management has to keep the balance between three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural. ...
* Sustainable land management


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecosystem Management Ecosystems Natural resource management