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Ž.
Landscape and Urban Planning 40 1998 1–7
The emergence of ecosystem management as a tool for meeting
people’s needs and sustaining ecosystems
Robert C. Szaro a,), William T. Sexton a, Charles R. Malone b
a USDAForest SerÕice, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090-6090, USA
b Nuclear Waste Project Office, Capitol Complex, Carson City, NV 89710, USA
Abstract
Ecosystem management is an approach that attempts to involve all stakeholders in defining sustainable alternatives for
the interactions of people and the environments in which they live. Its goal is to restore and sustain the health, productivity,
and biodiversity of ecosystems and the overall quality of life through a natural resource management approach that is fully
integrated with social and economic needs. For practical purposes, ecosystem management is generally synonymous with
sustainable development, sustainable management, sustainable forestry and a number of other terms being used to identify an
ecological approach to land and resource management. Ecosystem management emphasizes place- or region-based
objectives, with scopes and approaches defined appropriately for each given situation. Because natural ecosystems typically
cross administrative and jurisdictional boundaries, managing them requires interactions among different stakeholders and
institutions. Ecosystem management remains an evolving force that must yet respond and adapt to numerous challenges.
q1998 Elsevier Science B.V.
Keywords: Ecosystem management; Socioeconomics; Objectives; Multiple-scales
1. Introduction tained there. The current development of an ecologi-
cally based approach to management has evolved
We occupy a time of historic change in the way from a series of events, understandings and articu-
people view, understand and value the natural world. lated values provided over time by the scientific
In the United States, not since the turn of the last community, natural resource managers, legislative
century have so many varied interests had such an actions, judicial reviews, wide spread public com-
intense focus on the role of public lands and the ment, failing rural economies, and concerns over the
professional management of the resource values con- long term health and viability of the environment
and our ability to provide for desired goods and
services from public lands. The reason an ecosystem
perspective is needed is simple. Continued growth in
) Corresponding author. Present address: International Union of human populations and increases in their production,
Forestry Research Organizations, Special Programme for Develop- use and disposal of resources are not matched by
ing Countries, Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg 8, A-1131 Vienna, Aus- corresponding growth in the land base available to
tria. Tel.: q1-43-1-877-0151; fax: q1-43-1-877-9355; e-mail: meet those demands under traditional resource man-
szaro@forvie.ac.at
0169-2046r98r$19.00 q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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PII S0169-2046 97 00093-5
()
2 R.C. Szaro et al.rLandscape and Urban Planning 40 1998 1–7
agement approaches while sustaining desired levels 2. The ecosystem management concept
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of environmental quality Silver and DeFries, 1990 .
Some give credit for the fundamental core of the What exactly does ‘ecosystem management’
concept of ecosystem management to Aldo Leopold mean? An ecosystem is a community of organisms
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Knight and Bates, 1995; Grumbine, 1994 . Al- and their environment that function as an integrated
though not using the term ecosystem management, unit. Forests are ecosystems, as are ponds, rivers,
Leopold recognized many of the interdisciplinary rotting logs, rangelands, whole mountain ranges, and
principles of ecology, socioeconomics, and human the planet. They exist at many different scales, from
interests in natural resource management that today micro sites to the biosphere. Their species composi-
are associated with managing natural ecosystems. tion, structure, and function change continually.
Others say that the roots of the ecosystem manage- Moreover, the boundaries between them are not
ment concept rest in the advent of basic ecosystem clearly delineated. Ecosystems grade into one an-
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science during the 1960s and 1970s Golley, 1993 . other and are nested within a matrix of larger ecosys-
Whatever its origins, ecosystem management arose tems. We describe the boundaries of ecosystems for
in response to increasing recognition that traditional specific purposes.
approaches to natural resource management are inad- Management means using skill or care in treating
equate and if perpetuated will likely result in further or handling something. Thus, ‘ecosystem manage-
loses of biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability ment’ means using skill and care in handling inte-
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Grumbine, 1992 . Clearly however, it is an evolu- grated units of organisms and their environments. It
tionary and not revolutionary approach. One that implies that the whole system, or integrated ecologi-
takes natural resource management to the next level cal unit, is the context for management, rather than
based on our improved understanding and capability just its individual parts.
for dealing with larger volumes of information and Ecosystem management is an approach that at-
their integration into management decisions and poli- tempts to involve all stakeholders in defining sus-
cies. tainable alternatives for the interactions of people
Among the events that coalesced the different and the environments in which they live. It adopts a
aspects of ecosystem management into an applied combination of numerous established ecological con-
interdisciplinary and holistic practice were the griz- cepts and principles that address human–environ-
zly bear and northern spotted owl controversies mental interactions. It is a way to better understand
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Thomas et al., 1990 . In the 1970s and 1980s, these and manage lands and resources, their conflicting
events influenced the integration of ecosystem sci- resource uses and management objectives, and the
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ence, conservation biology see Crumpacker, 1998; activities that impact them. An ecosystem approach
.
Knight, 1998 , traditional natural resource manage- also attempts to address many environmental rela-
ment, socioeconomics, institutional arrangements, tionships across varying spatial, biological, and orga-
and diverse stakeholders interests. By the late 1980s, nizational scales, as compared to more traditional
this synthesis had resulted in an ecosystem approach approaches of looking at individual projects and
to land management. And, it was during this period Ž
single components of a plan or a single species but
that usage of the term ‘ecosystem management’ to for a discussion on the value of individual species
mean an ecosystem approach to resource manage- research to ecosystem based approaches, see Loeb et
ment became common. .
al., 1998 . The ecosystem approach emphasizes
As a result, this special issue explores a range of place- or region-based objectives, with scopes and
current views and perspectives on the development approaches defined appropriately for each given situ-
of the concept of ecosystem management primarily ation. It can potentially be used by many interests,
in the United States and its implementation. It is for a wide range of purposes and missions. Thus, the
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divided into three sections: 1 the concept of ecosys- word ‘management’ in its name should not be con-
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tem management and its complexity, 2 analyses, strued as limiting.
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information needs and applications, and 3 issues, Ecosystem management is an approach that is
commentaries and perspectives. scale-dependent. Many significant biological re-
()
R.C. Szaro et al.rLandscape and Urban Planning 40 1998 1–7 3
sponses and cumulative effects become more evident the term ecosystem management implies an interdis-
at greater scales than at smaller ones. Consequently, ciplinary, holistic environmental approach to main-
framing problems and solutions at the appropriate taining natural diversity and productivity of the land-
scale is critical to evaluating management options. Ž
scape while sustaining human culture Gore, 1993;
Planners and managers are increasingly aware that .
IEMTF, 1995; Brussard et al., 1998; Lackey, 1998 .
adequate assessment of any options requires consid- To achieve this, consideration is directed toward
eration of their effects at all levels. whole ecosystems rather than to single species or
Ecosystem planning must consider the dynamics single uses of natural resources. Because natural
of landscape scale patterns, both natural and man- ecosystems typically cross administrative and juris-
aged, and their effects on hydrology, wildlife, and dictional boundaries, managing them requires inter-
other resources as well as their impacts on human actions among different stakeholders and institutions
needs and expectations. For example, the planning Ž.
Cortner and Moote, 1994 . The ecosystem approach
process for a national forest needs to recognize the to resource management therefore is a strategy based
context in which that forest resides, such as what on integrating ecosystem science and socioeconomic
actions are being taken in surrounding areas. This Ž.
principles Underwood, 1998 . Institutional coordina-
would include consideration of significant changes in Ž
tion and change Cortner et al., 1998; Kennedy and
surrounding, nonpublic land as reason to revise plans. .
Quigley, 1998 , stakeholder participation, and col-
In some places, the emphasis will be on ecological laborative decision making are key components of
conditions and environmental services, while in oth- the process.
ers, it will be on resource products and uses. Overall,
the mandate should be to protect environmental qual-
ity while also producing resources that people need. 3. Humans as an integral part of the system
Therefore, ecosystem management cannot simply be
a matter of choosing one over the other. It must chart Humans must be considered as parts of almost all
a prudent course to attain both of these goals to- ecosystems, making it logical that the idea of sus-
gether. This can only happen in areas that are large tainability be applied to human economies, societies,
enough to allow compatible patterns of different uses and to development as well as to ecosystems and
and values. biodiversity. Advocates of ecosystem management
Ecosystem management is not a linear, highly recognize that delineation of ecosystems is problem-
standardized, or certain means to identify the one atic and that manipulation of complex ecosystem
right way to manage resources. This approach will components to achieve some desired goal far ex-
aid in the development of better options and sustain- ceeds the knowledge about ecosystem science and
able solutions by incorporating human needs and resource management science. However, they have
values, with our best understanding of the environ- learned over the past several decades that manage-
ment, while recognizing that science alone has not ment of land and water to maximize yields of se-
and will not produce a single ‘right’ answer for lected resources or to optimize one or a few uses
resource use and management objectives. Instead, without regard to the myriad connections and inter-
decisions will continue to be a complex blending of actions among the vast components, compartments,
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social, economic, political see Freemuth and Mc- and functional processes within ecosystems fails to
. Ž
Gregor Cawley, 1998 , and scientific information sustain those systems and their biodiversity Francis,
and interests. .
1993; Knight and Bates, 1995 .
Ecosystem management differs from traditional Among the commonalities between the grizzly
resource management, including the multiple use bear controversy in the greater Yellowstone area and
concept, by addressing both biotic and abiotic com- the spotted owl controversy in the Pacific Northwest
ponents of the environment and their interactions was the necessity of managing resources across tradi-
within landscape settings as well as by incorporating tional land-control and ownership boundaries involv-
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substantial cultural components Grumbine, 1994; ing different government agencies, private owners,
.
Slocombe, 1993a,b, 1998; Wood, 1994 . Simply put, and diverse stakeholders in both public and private
()
4 R.C. Szaro et al.rLandscape and Urban Planning 40 1998 1–7
lands. Thus, governmental arrangements and stake- augment nature where feasible, and to benefit from
holder involvement in collaborative decision making Ž
such management Francis, 1993; Grumbine, 1994;
became important concerns and distinguishing com- .
Slocombe, 1993a,b .
ponents of ecosystem management. Both administra-
tive interactions and cooperative determinations
largely were missing from traditional resource man- 4. Development of a national policy
agement. The intent of ecosystem management is not
to prescribe land-use practices and polices on private Anattempt to develop a uniform federal policy on
lands but rather to use the knowledge gained about ecosystem management arose in 1993 from the White
conditions of those lands when making decisions on Ž
House’s National Performance Review for perspec-
public lands and allowing private landowners the tives on ecosystem management policy development,
ability to address practices on public lands that might see Fitzsimmons, 1998; Hacuber, 1998; Morrissey,
impact their lands. .
1998; Norton, 1998 . As part of the review, Vice
Having the objective of assuring both environ- President Gore called for the federal government to
mental and economic sustainability, ecosystem man- adopt an approach for ensuring sustainable economic
agement recognizes that the two goals are interre- development while also sustaining the environment
lated and associated with sustaining ecosystem biodi- Ž.
through ecosystem management Gore, 1993 . The
versity, structure, and function. While the scientific federal ecosystem management initiative thus led the
foundation of ecosystem management rests with ap- White House Office of Environmental Policy to es-
plied ecosystem science, scientists, including ecolo- tablish an Interagency Ecosystem Management Task
gists, must accept that there is far more involved Force in 1993 to carry out the environmental man-
than applied science alone. The concept encompasses date of the National Performance Review.
humans and their socioeconomic culture as part of Most federal land management agencies had an-
ecosystems, and as a consequence, the principle of ticipated such action as evidenced by the creation in
sustainability reaches beyond conservation biology 1992 of an informal Interagency Ecosystem Manage-
and traditional ecology to include social and eco- ment Coordinating Group for exchanging views and
nomic development, i.e., sustainable development information relative to ecosystem management
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but see Crumpacker, 1998; Knight, 1998; Slo- among their staffs. Thus, when the report of the task
.
combe, 1993b, 1998 . Part of the uncertainty over force was issued in 1995 most of the relevant agen-
the development of ecosystem management arises cies had independently initiated actions toward
from the concurrent development of other closely adopting the principles of ecosystem management to
related concepts. These include such fields as ecosys- Ž
foster their stewardship of public lands IEMTF,
tem health, ecosystem risk assessment, ecosystem .
1995 .
valuation, ecosystem economics, ecosystem ethics, The report of Interagency Ecosystem Manage-
human ecology, political ecology, and ecosystem ment Task Force identified barriers to implementing
law, all of which, like ecosystem management, are ecosystem management and proposed ways the fed-
outgrowths of an emerging new paradigm in natural eral government could foster overcoming the barriers
Ž Ž.
resources management Costanza, 1991; Costanza et see Huke and Gelburd, 1998; Szaro et al., 1998 . To
al., 1992; Francis, 1993; Gunderson et al., 1995; help assure interagency implementation of ecosystem
Knight and Bates, 1995; Rapport, 1995; Shrader- management policies and programs, the task force
.
Frechette, 1998; Wagner et al., 1998; Wood, 1994 . report recommended that the federal agencies partici-
Like it or not, the emerging paradigm of ecosystem pating in the task force should become parties to a
management, or the ecosystem approach to resource memorandum of understanding affirming their intent
management, is as much about people as it is about to implement the report’s recommendations.
other life forms and the abiotic environment The first major effort in this regard was the
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Salwasser, 1994 . Thus, a tenant of the ecosystem ‘Ecological Stewardship Project’ which brought to-
management paradigm is that people must learn how gether many agencies, environmental groups, indus-
to understand and respect nature and its limits, to try associations, and private foundations ŽSzaro et
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