Environmental Management: Principles and practice

part of, not separate from, nature and incorporate human values and traditional
knowledge (Watt, 1969; Samson and Knopf, 1996; Vogt et al., 1997).
The ecosystems approach means different things to various disciplines, so it is
a useful generalization rather than a precise term. Even if widely agreed that an
ecosystems approach demands a holistic perspective, that can be interpreted in either
a comprehensive or an integrated manner. The integrated approach does not try to
research all ecosystem components, only those deemed crucial by planners (Barrett,
1994; Bocking, 1994; Margerum and Born, 1995). A comprehensive approach seeks
to research in much greater depth with wider focus, taking time and costing more, so
it may be less practical for planning and management.
The decision to adopt an ecosystems approach will usually be based on an
assessment of whether its advantages outweigh its disadvantages (see Box 9.1). An
eminent ecologist, having weighed integrated and comprehensive approaches, stressed
how important it was that planners and analysts had a clearly thought-out interpretation
of what an ecosystem approach means before using it. As many institutions are
commodity or service orientated, rather than ecosystem orientated, data collection and
personnel training may need changing. A commodity or service orientation may be

---

ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT
177
BOX 9.1 Advantages and disadvantages of the ecosystem approach
Advantages
Disadvantages
Comprehensive, holistic approach for
May neglect sociocultural
understanding whole systems.
issues such as politics, power
and equity.
Different view of science that
Ecological determinism: danger of
recognizes diversity of cause and
generalizing from biophysical
effect, uncertainty, and probabilistic
to socioeconomic systems.
nature of ecosystems.
Draws on theory and methods from
Nebulous: a vague, superorganismic
different fields to generate models
theory of poor empirical foundation,
and hypotheses.
that relies on analogy and comparison.
Contributes to understanding limits,
Non-standard definition of ‘ecosystem’,
complexity, stresses and dynamics.
Encourages preventive thinking by
Reification of analytical systems; in
placing people within nature.
some approaches linked to reductionist
and equilibrium views.
Facilitates locally appropriate,
Narrow spatial focus on local ecosystem
self-reliant, sustainable action.
structures and processes.
Facilitates co-operation, conflict
Functionalist and/or energy analysis
reduction, institutional integration.
are overemphasized.
Requires recognition of mutual
Duplicates and/or overlaps other
dependence on all parts of a system:
disciplines without a special
e.g. natural/cultural, person/family.
contribution of its own.
Results in criteria for management
If ecosystem approaches can apply to
actions.
everything they may be meaningless.
Facilitates studies that integrate a
range of disciplines (holistic).
Source: Slocombe, 1993:298, Table 3 (with modification)

---

CHAPTER NINE
178