M5 AM Managing Environment Issues for the Next 25 Years: The Role of Science
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in 321-323

(REA-1117-816139) Ecological Science as the Basis for Integrating Environmental Management Activities.

Reagan, D.¹, ¹ Doug Reagan & Associates, LLC, Castle Rock, CO, USA

ABSTRACT- Approaches for managing natural resources have developed rapidly during the past four decades, largely in response to a growing awareness of the magnitude of human impacts on the environment. The resulting system of laws and regulations, in the U.S as in many other countries has been generated primarily in response to particular environmental issues, creating a reactive and piecemeal approach for managing the environment. Responsibilities for managing different resources (e.g., water, air, forests, wildlife) have been assigned to different agencies, further fragmenting environmental management activities. The approach presented here recognizes that management involves decision-making, and that decisions are made on the basis of values. Ecological science provides the framework for integrating information from the physical, biological, and social sciences to determine the environmental values on which decisions are made and to evaluate the interrelationships among living organisms and between living organisms (including humans) and their environment. Steps in the process include: goal (or problem) identification, values identification (ecological and human) for the environment being managed, and data collection and analysis focused on management decision-making. Stakeholder involvement and active participation are essential elements of the approach. Successful application of this framework has enabled environmental managers to achieve workable solutions and to avoid or resolve environmental conflicts by enhancing communications among stakeholders for projects including risk assessment and management, environmental impact assessment, natural resource damage assessment, and protected area management planning at local and regional scales. Because of its foundation in ecological science and ability to incorporate the stakeholder values, the framework is transportable across political boundaries, applicable to all environments involving natural resources, independent of any particular ideology, and applicable to environmental management activities at all scales.

Key words: ecology, environmental management, environmental assessment, integration