The Ecosystem Approach

By Ole Martin Sandberg

All references are to the COP 5 Decision V/6: “Ecosystem Approach” by the Convention of Biological Diversity .

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. It recognizes that humans as well as nature have needs and thus seeks a balance between human use of natural resources and the need for conservation of biodiversity.

Furthermore, the Ecosystem Approach recognizes that no effort to protect nature will succeed unless the people who are located near or within the ecosystems share this goal and are collaborating on its implementation. Therefore, the Ecosystem Approach is just as much a guide to inclusive and democratic decision-making as it is a guide to understanding natural processes. By not treating natural and social processes as separate and distinct from each other, the Ecosystem Approach offers an integrated and holistic perspective on nature management and conservation.

The Ecosystem Approach is based on scientific studies and learned experiences from decades of biodiversity conservation efforts and policies. In previous decades, many practical efforts at protecting biodiversity failed because they were imposed from the top without involving local populations. This caused conflicts between biodiversity management and local resource users. In worst case scenarios such conflicts have led to suppression of indigenous populations in the name of nature conservation, and in the best case it has simply led to failed conservation programs. The Ecosystem Approach aims at avoiding such failures and is based on lessons learned from both successes and failures.

The Ecosystem Approach is the agreed-upon required framework for all policies and efforts taken under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This does not mean that it provides definite rules for policies and procedures because every ecosystem and every community are different and have their own special circumstances. Nevertheless, the Ecosystem Approach provides guidelines for procedures which can be adapted to local situations. It is incumbent upon everyone within the administrative and policy-making and -implementing sector to make sure that the guiding principles of the Ecosystem Approach are used at every level in efforts to protect biodiversity for the sake of nature and people.

Humans Are Part of Nature

The Ecosystem Approach has 3 goals: 1) Conservation, 2) sustainable use, 3) fair and equitable sharing of benefits. The Ecosystem Approach does not mean fencing nature off in areas of conservation where humans leave it alone, and then areas for humans where nature doesn’t matter. It is not saying we cannot use nature, just that we should do it sustainably in a way that doesn’t harm nature or ourselves.

It recognizes that humans are part of nature and can be an integral part of ecosystems. Humans have always interacted with nature and shaped it. This does not make nature any less valuable, or even less “natural”. It just means humans are part of nature and part of the ecosystems, and like all natural beings we influence our own habitats. The relevant question is whether we shape it in a way where it can sustain itself and the other members of the ecological community, or whether we destroy it by our activities. Cultural practices play a role here. Cultures are intertwined with nature, with resources and with the landscapes. The Ecosystem Approach acknowledges that humans with their cultural diversity are integral parts of many ecosystems.

Like all animals, humans need to eat, build shelter, and create cultural commodities. The Ecosystem Approach does not mean we cannot use natural resources. It is an approach to how we can use them sustainably so our culture can continue to exist within the nature it depends upon. Finally, sustainability requires that we share the benefits of nature fairly among ourselves (fair and equitable sharing), because if people do not think they benefit from the social arrangements that manage our natural resources they will not participate in them; this leads to competition for resources and breakdown of our relation to nature and culture. The goal is to ensure that everybody feels they have a stake in the common management of our shared ecosystems – that it is in their individual and collective interest.

Ecosystems are Dynamic

A forest is not just a collection of trees, and a lake is not just a body of water. A forest is a complex network of interacting organisms above and below the ground, it includes the trees but also the animals, the fungi, the microorganism and the chemical compositions of the soil and the air. Likewise, a lake is a relation of all the organisms and the inorganic materials in the water. Therefore, the Ecosystem Approach defines an ecosystem as “a dynamic complex of animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.”

Both the forest and the lake are also influenced by and dependent upon activities happening outside and beyond them. Every ecosystem is affected by activities and conditions in the surrounding ecosystems and environments. This calls into question whether any ecosystem can really be a “functional unit” since none of them function autonomously. The Ecosystem Approach recognizes this and admits that what we call “an ecosystem” is in principle a matter of pragmatism. The definition does not specify any scale of analysis or definition of the “functional unit”. The level of focus depends on the topic we are interested in and the problems we want to address.

Unlike other forms of conservation management, the Ecosystem Approach does not focus on protecting specific species or organisms but is instead primarily concerned with the “structure, processes, functions and interactions” that take place between the organisms and between organisms and their environment. It is these processes and interactions that the Ecosystem Approach seeks to preserve by good ecosystem management. This is not in conflict with other forms of conservation but the focus on processes and interactions does give a different meaning to the term “conservation” because this concept of ecosystems is inherently dynamic. The Ecosystem Approach is not aiming at conserving an ecosystem in a specific state but rather seeks to protect the processes that allow a system to change.

An ecosystem is thus not a static thing that can be conserved but a dynamic process that has its own life. This is complicated further by the recognition that every human activity also has an effect on nature. Even the best intended conservation efforts will have impacts on the ecosystems they intend to protect. Thus, even actions taken to protect ecosystems can change those systems. This does not mean that conservation efforts are impossible but that we need to tread carefully, pay attention to the consequences of our actions, and then adjust our policies and actions if necessary.

Adaptive Management

The Ecosystem Approach therefore recognizes that change is inevitable and that we cannot always predict what will happen in an ecosystem or what the consequences of our actions will be. Surprise and uncertainty are integral parts of ecosystem management. Therefore, the ecosystem management approach involves a process of constant adaptation and learning. Management programs cannot be fixed but must be flexible so they can “adjust to the unexpected rather than act on the basis of a belief in certainties.” Ecosystem management must be seen as an experimental process where managers adapt their strategies based on careful observation of how the ecological system responds to changes and interventions.

This means that top-down political approaches are in conflict with the ecosystem management approach. Policies and laws written at the highest levels are rarely flexible and are difficult to adapt to local circumstances or unexpected changes. Furthermore, they tend to be written from a position that is detached from the local ecological conditions or careful observations of these. It is therefore important that the political structures are compatible with and supportive of the Ecosystem Approach which requires a focus and a level of action that fits the scale of ecological analysis. Just like the definition of an ecosystem, the level of policy-making and management should be pragmatically defined by the problem or issue we need to focus on.

Often this means placing the emphasis on the most local and decentralized level – for example a local community, a village, a neighborhood, or a municipality – which are often the levels that have the most invested interests, the capacities for monitoring and acting, as well as the flexibility that allows them to adapt to new developments. At the same time, just as an ecosystem is affected by other ecosystems, the level of management can be scaled up and embedded within larger structures as long as these are mutually supportive. Any local ecosystem management must consider the effects of their activities on other ecosystems as well as other communities. This requires communication, cooperation and coordination between all sectors and levels of society.

Some conservation programs in the past have failed because they were based on a static concept of nature which it is the goal of conservation efforts to preserve by excluding humans from interfering with nature. This view sees humans and nature as essentially incompatible, and the goal and method of nature conservation is thus to remove humans from nature. This has been done in some cases, with unfortunate consequences, by imposing inflexible laws by central governments without consulting the people who were living in, with and off the respective ecosystems, and without involving them in the management of said ecosystems. Too often, this has turned potential participants in a collective management scheme into likely opponents.

Democratic and Participatory Management

In summary, the principles learned from past experience about ecosystems and their management lead the Ecosystem Approach to call for: 1) A system of adaptive management (as opposed to fixed and inflexible laws and regulations). 2) Management that is decentralized to the lowest level possible (as opposed to policies imposed from above). 3) An inclusive and participatory process where all relevant information, including different values, is taken into account and all interested parties are involved in both the decision-making process and the daily operations of management to the degrees that are relevant and possible (as opposed to a system where only experts, politicians or special interest lobby-groups are shaping the policy).

These guiding principles are meant to enable ecosystem management to be flexible and adapt to unpredictable changes and to ensure that everyone who has an interest in the preservation and utilization of ecosystems develop the sense of responsibility, ownership and empowerment that enable them to take care of it in a cooperative manner. Thus, the Ecosystem Approach calls for the involvement of scientific experts, local planners, primary users and local communities in the identification of problems, needs and goals regarding specific resources and ecosystems.

To achieve these goals, the Ecosystem Approach includes a guideline for the process of ecosystem management based on the following 12 principles:

1. The objectives of the management of land, water and living resources are a matter of societal choice.
2.  Management should be decentralized to the lowest appropriate level.
3. Ecosystem managers should consider the effects (actual or potential) of their activities on adjacent and other ecosystems.
4. Recognizing potential gains from management, there is usually a need to understand and manage the ecosystem in an economic context. Any such an ecosystem management program should: (a) Reduce those market distortions that adversely impact biological diversity; (b) Align incentives to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use; (c) Internalize costs and benefits in the given ecosystem to the extent feasible.
5. Conservation of ecosystem structure and functioning, in order to maintain ecosystem services, should be a priority target of the Ecosystem Approach.
6. Ecosystems must be managed within the limits of their functioning.
7. The Ecosystem Approach should be undertaken at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales.
8. Recognizing the varying temporal scales and lag-effects that characterize ecosystem processes, objectives for ecosystem management should be set for the long term.
9. Management must recognize that change is inevitable.
10. The Ecosystem Approach should seek the appropriate balance between, and integration of, conservation and use of biological diversity.
11. The Ecosystem Approach should consider all forms of relevant information, including scientific, indigenous, and local knowledge, innovations, and practices.
12. The Ecosystem Approach should involve all relevant sectors of society and scientific disciplines.

More comprehensive guides as well as tools and case studies can be found at the CBD website or in the Icelandic report (which includes and extensive English summary) Greinargerð í kjölfar málþings um vistkerfisnálgun published by Biodice in 2023.