Ecosystem-Based Management
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Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) is an environmental management approach that considers the entire ecosystem, including all its living and non-living components, when making decisions about how to use and manage natural resources. EBM is based on the idea that ecosystems are complex and interconnected, and that managing one part of an ecosystem can have unintended consequences for other parts. As such, EBM aims to manage ecosystems in a way that sustains their overall health and productivity.
History and Development of Ecosystem-Based Management
The concept of EBM has been around for centuries, but it was not until the late 20th century that it began to be widely adopted as a formal management approach. In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of international agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, called for the adoption of EBM approaches to natural resource management. In the United States, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 requires federal agencies to consider the environmental impacts of their actions, including the potential impacts on ecosystems.
