Lecture 7 - Planning and Management

6.1 Introduction

  • Principles of effective resource and environmental management:

    • Science-based decision-making

    • Adoption of best planning and management approaches regarding concepts, processes, and methods.

6.2 Planning and Management Components

6.2.1 Context

  • Importance of including local people in the development and implementation of strategies.

  • Public agencies often favor standardized approaches to avoid accusations of inequality, but there is a need to adapt to specific local conditions for effective management.

6.2.2 Ethics and Values: Ecocentric and Technocentric Perspectives
Ecocentric Values (Biocentric)

  • Belief in a natural order in living beings, often disrupted by human actions.

  • Values include reverence, humility, responsibility, and stewardship of nature.

  • Characteristics of people with ecocentric values:

    • Advocate low-impact technology.

    • Reject the bigness and impersonality of certain technologies.

    • Promote ecological principles of diversity and change.

    • Emphasize appropriate ends and means in decision-making.

Technocentric Values (Anthropocentric)

  • View that humanity can control and manipulate nature for its own needs, with nature valued based on human interests.

  • Characteristics of people with technocentric values:

    • Focus on means rather than ends, confident in human ingenuity.

    • Less concern for moral implications and consequences.

    • Trust in technology to solve resource challenges.

6.2.3 Systems and Ecosystem Perspective

  • Ecosystems are defined as communities of living organisms interacting with non-living elements (air, water, soil).

  • Management of ecosystems needs a systems or holistic perspective, first introduced by Arthur Tansley in 1935.

Characteristics of the Ecosystem Approach (Slocombe, 2010)

  • Inclusion of systems concepts and analysis.

  • Use of ethical perspectives.

  • Engagement of stakeholders and public participation.

  • Focus on bioregional, place-based strategies.

  • Development of common goals and systematic understanding of ecosystems.

6.2.4 Opportunities through the Ecosystem Approach

  1. Offers a counter to the dominant anthropocentric perspective, emphasizing interdependence.

  2. Encourages problem-solving within interconnected systems (e.g., land decisions affecting water systems).

  3. Acknowledges links between environmental, economic, and social systems to prevent degradation.

  4. Demonstrates how decisions at one type or scale can affect others (e.g., pollution impacts across regions).

  5. Stresses the importance of appropriate spatial units for planning (e.g., watersheds over political boundaries).

  6. Emphasizes that ecosystems are dynamic systems that undergo changes over time.

6.2.5 Long-Term View

  • Importance of considering:

    • Short-term view (less than 5 years)

    • Middle-term view (5 to 15 years)

    • Long-term view (more than 15 years)

  • The need for patience in addressing environmental issues due to their historical accumulation.

6.2.6 Environmental Justice (US EPA)

  • Definition: Fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income, in environmental laws and policies.

  • Examples: Avoiding the disposal of waste and LULUs (Locally Unwanted Land Uses) in disadvantaged areas.

6.3 Review Questions

  1. When certain thresholds are exceeded in natural systems, environmental deterioration can occur.

  2. Airborne and waterborne pollutants tend to be mobile.

  3. The most effective units of environmental management are based on environmental functions.

  4. Ecosystems are dynamic, not static.

  5. In environmental management, a long-term view is necessary (more than 15 years).

  6. Environmental justice is encapsulated in fair treatment and meaningful involvement.