Thematic Group Lead
Olivier Hammerlynck, olivier.hamerlynck@wanadoo.fr
The Ecosystem Approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way.
The Ecosystem Approach places human needs at the centre of biodiversity management. It aims to manage the ecosystem, based on the multiple functions that ecosystems perform and the multiple uses that are made of these functions. The ecosystem approach does not aim for short-term economic gains, but aims to optimize the use of an ecosystem without damaging it.
It was endorsed at the fifth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP 5 in Nairobi, Kenya; May 2000/Decision V/6) as the primary framework for action under the Convention. It comprises 12 Principles. Decision VII/11 of the 7th Conference of the Parties to the CBD supports the application and implementation of the Ecosystem Approach, and welcomes additional guidelines to this effect.
CEM promotes the application of the Ecosystem Approach throughout the work of the Union, including its members and partners.
