Collaborations in adaptive ecosystem approaches to management

Watershed management is continually evolving to address the regional, national, and global environmental issues at hand.  Government, nonprofit, and academic institutions agree that an ecosystem approach to management (EAM) is the best tool to prevent further degradation of our natural resources. One of the components, which distinguish EAM from traditional forms of environmental management, is adaptive management. In order for EAM to be effective, it is imperative to design the EAM effort using the adaptive management approach. Adaptive ecosystem management (AEM) is learning while experimenting with different ecosystem approaches to management and monitoring the effectiveness of the management approach, while focusing on sound science to make decisions for a sustainable future.  This presentation uses the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management implementation framework to highlight principles of adaptive ecosystem approaches to management in various examples.  The presentation focuses on two challenges in implementing AEM: weighting of environmental, social, and economic dimensions and secondly, the level of coordination between government and non-governmental implementers. Our analysis deduced that adaptive EAM concepts embedded in the organizational structure would facilitate integrated ecosystem-level data collection, sharing, and evaluation. Personnel training in ecosystem approaches and expanded monitoring and communication networks are also key components.