Greg Aplet

The Wilderness Society

The concept of ecosystem management arose out of the recognition that we have not been very successful at maintaining our ecosystem as we exploit it. The question is how to meet our needs without destroying our ecosystem.

Five principles of ecosystem management:

1. complexity (all parts are interconnected through ecological processes)
2. change (change occurs constantly in response to key processes)
3. scale (ecosystems exist at all scales; large systems consist of smaller ones, ecological processes occur at various rates)
4. uncertainty (complexity assures surprises, chance events; changing public values are another source of uncertainty)
5. humans as part of ecosystems (we affect and are affected by ecosystems; all aspects of our lives are influenced by the quality of ecosystems)

We have reached a point at which there is a coalescence of a number of key issues around one central theme: the protection of ecosystem integrity.

• biological invasions (protection from species additions)
• classical biological control (damage control)
• endangered species (protection from species loss)
• global change (slowing the rate of change)
• ecosystem management (protecting ecosystem integrity while meeting peoples' needs)