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EBM Tools Network Website Launched

A network of conservation groups, foundations, scientists, and universities has launched a new website that provides comprehensive information about tools for ecosystem-based management (EBM) of coastal and marine environments. The Ecosystem-Based Management Tools Network website is an online portal that will serve the information needs of scientists, planners, and coastal land managers throughout North America.

The EBM Tools Network members include: Duke University, EcoTrust, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, Orton Family Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Princeton University, Sea Around Us Project, University of Queensland, and Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association.

Tools for Ecosystem-Based Management in Coastal and Marine Environments

The persistent degradation of coastal and marine environments has led to calls for ecosystem-based management, a management approach that considers all ecosystem components, including humans and the physical environment, rather than managing one issue or resource in isolation. With support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, NatureServe’s Ecosystem-Based Management Tools Program is developing a knowledge base of tools that will help facilitate ecosystem-based management (EBM) in coastal and marine environments and is coordinating a network of EBM practitioners and tool developers to share knowledge about EBM tools.

EBM tools can facilitate a variety of EBM processes. They can provide models of ecosystems or key ecosystem processes, including the interplay between ecological and economic factors. They can help managers and stakeholders visualize and analyze the current state of resources and generate scenarios illustrating the consequences of different management decisions on ecosystems, development, and resources. And they can facilitate the meaningful and productive engagement of stakeholders with each other, science and scientists, and management agencies.

An initial survey and evaluation of existing EBM tools for coastal and marine environments is available for download. The summary includes tools appropriate for use in coastal and marine environments, as well as, watersheds with input into these environments.

To learn more about NatureServe’s EBM Tools Program, contact Sarah Carr, EBM Tools Program Coordinator, at 703-908-1892 or by email at sarah_carr@natureserve.org.

More About Ecosystem-Based Management

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a management approach to restore and sustain the health, productivity, and biological diversity of ecosystems and the quality of life of humans who depend on them. It is a science-based approach that:

• focuses on all of the organisms living in a given place as well as their interactions with each other and their physical environment, and is committed to understanding ecosystem processes and how ecosystems respond to environmental perturbations;
• integrates ecological, social, and economic goals and recognizes humans as key components of the ecosystem;
• defines the management regime based on ecological boundaries - not political boundaries, and the different spatial and temporal scales that accompany them;
• addresses the complexity of natural processes and social systems and uses an adaptive management approach in the face of resulting uncertainties;
• engages multiple stakeholders in a collaborative process to define problems and find solutions;
• is concerned with the ecological integrity and sustainability of the coupled human-ecological system; and
• in coastal-marine systems, incorporates the dynamic interplay between terrestrial, marine, and freshwater systems.

About the Packard Foundation Science for Ecosystem-Based Management Initiative

NatureServe’s EBM Tools Program is supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Science for Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Initiative. This initiative reflects the growing number of scientists, practitioners, politicians, and environmentalists who believe that existing approaches to coastal-marine conservation are inadequate and who are calling for a new management approach that focuses on entire ecosystems, including the people and communities that live there. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to facilitate a shift to such management regimes. Packard chose to focus on EBM because of the great promise it holds for achieving this long-term goal. Learn more about the Packard Foundation’s Science for Ecosystem-Based Management Initiative.

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