Better Management Requires an Ecosystem Approach

But ecosystem decline is not inevitable. Ecosystems are resilient and can be sustained through practices that accommodate their inherent biological limits, recognizing that ecosystems are not simple production factories but living systems built on complex relationships among species and physical factors such as water, temperature, and nutrient availability. Practices that respect and preserve how ecosystems function are the building blocks of what in the past five years has come to be known as an ecosystem approach to natural resource management—that is, management that centers itself around the sustainable and equitable use of ecosystems. In this chapter, when we refer to “better ecosystem management,” we mean adopting an ecosystem approach. (See Figure 4.1.)

In practice, “better ecosystem management” often translates to fairly simple principles, particularly in the context of the ecosystems that the poor use most frequently. For example, it may mean more moderate harvest levels of forest products, forage, or other vegetation, so that the ecosystem can retain its macrostructure, and so that watersheds maintain their ability to absorb rainwater and retain it as soil moisture. It may involve adopting different treatment of livestock, cultivation methods that reduce erosion, or cropping patterns that minimize depletion of soil nutrients. Where ecosystems have already degraded substantially, it may require a period of non-use and restoration, such as a closed fishing season or a logging or grazing ban. Or it may demand direct revegetation through tree-planting. In all cases, the effectiveness of such measures will be greater when they are actively supported by community members who see themselves as benefiting on a fair and equal basis in the short and medium terms. In this sense, an ecosystem approach is as much people-centered as it is ecosystem-focused.