Our work
What is Ecosystem Management?
Ecosystem management is a process that integrates ecological, socio-economic, and institutional factors into comprehensive analyses and action in order to sustain and enhance the quality of the ecosystem to meet current and future needs.
Today we are aware that success in our conservation efforts is linked to our capacity to address human security and livelihood issues. Understanding how different processes that are supported by ecosystems, operate and relate to each other is a crucial step in gaining the capacity to manage ecosystems to sustain ecosystem services and goods on which we - and all other species - depend.
Key Themes
The Commission on Ecosystem Management has identified five
themes as programmatic priority for 2005 - 2008 in its Ecosystem Management
Intersessional Programme 2005 - 2008. They are:
Promoting and facilitating implementation of the Ecosystem Approach;
Establishing a capacity to promote Ecosystem Restoration;
Development and application of Indicators of Ecosystem Status;
Development and communication of Ecosystem Management Tools and ;
Ecosystem Services.
Ecosystems
The Commission on Ecosystem Management and the Ecosystem Management Programme work together with other IUCN Programmes, Themes and Regional Offices on the following ecosystems:
Marine
Water
Forests
Drylands
Mountains
Cross-Cutting Issue: Ecosystems, Livelihoods and Disasters
Integrated ecosystem management can effectively reduce the risk of disasters. CEM has identified ecosystems, livelihoods and disasters as an emerging theme:
Ecosystems, Livelihoods and Disasters
Ecosystem Management in the IUCN Programme
Recognizing that socio-economic and ecological systems are intimately linked, evolve together, and cannot be treated independently, ecosystem management is thus a cornerstone of the whole of the Union's work, as evidenced by Key Result Area No. 5 of IUCN's Global Programme 2005 - 2008, "Ensuring sustainable and efficient management of ecosystems, integrating social, economic and environmental aims at local, national and transboundary levels".
Using its five thematic areas, Ecosystem Management in IUCN strives to work across all IUCN Programmes and themes, including the Arctic; Biodiversity Policy; Business; Climate Change; Drylands; Economics; Education and Communication; Environmental Law; Forest Conservation; Gender; Marine; Monitoring and Evaluation; Mountains; Protected Areas; Social Policy; Species; Sustainable Use; Traffic; Wetlands and Water Resources.
Photo: Robert Hofstede
