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SOUND POLICY OR SMOKE AND MIRRORS: DOES ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT MAKE SENSE? 1
Author(s) -
Fitzsimmons Allan K
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1996.tb03446.x
Subject(s) - environmental resource management , ecosystem , ecosystem management , sound (geography) , land management , natural resource management , natural resource , resource management (computing) , business , ecosystem based management , land use , resource (disambiguation) , public policy , natural (archaeology) , environmental planning , environmental science , computer science , ecology , economics , geography , computer network , archaeology , biology , geomorphology , economic growth , geology
Protection of ecosystems as entities on the landscape has attracted a wide range of support. Ecosystem‐based public policies are claimed to be more effective, efficient, and scientifically sound than other approaches to environmental and natural resource policy. The ecosystem concept was never intended to serve as a public policy guide or to determine landscape units for land management purposes. This paper critically examines the use of the ecosystem concept in public policy and land use management and analyzes the proposed rule to manage the National Forest System according to ecosystem management principles. The concept is found to be unsuitable as a basis for guiding environmental and natural resource public policies in general while the proposed rule to manage the national forests according to ecosystem management principles is shown to be incoherent.