Ecosystem Management: A review of a new concept and methodology

Ecosystem Management (EM) is a new holistic approach to the management of natural resources. It integrates the scientific knowledge on ecological interrelationships and the complex socioeconomic and political frame of values, aiming at the long-term sustainability of a region, i.e., the ecosystem. It includes the human, biological and natural dimensions, and can regulate the internal structures and functions of the ecosystem, and the inputs and outputs from it, so that solutions to development and protection problems can be achieved and be socially well-accepted. It has been given attention since 1991, mainly in the U.S.A., where the existing legal framework formed a basis for EM. The former experience of programs based on the traditional methods of management, the goal of sustainable development stated by many governmental, public or private agencies, and the advent of scientific knowledge, permitted the development of a theoretical basis for EM. Today, a significant number of EM programs have been established and are in progress in the U.S.A. Here the concept, general principles and methodology of EM are reviewed, and the EM program in the State of Florida in the U.S.A. is presented, which is considered a successful case study. In addition, the examples of management of two very important ecosystems in Northern Greece are critically presented for comparison, in order to evaluate if they have EM characteristics.