ABSTRACT
Ecological integrity, the ecosystem approach, and ecologically sustainable development are phrases that have been increasingly used in recent years. Ecosystems that have evolved successfully are said to have integrity. The first is that of resilience, which is a measure of the ability of an ecosystem to absorb shocks and to maintain its integrity even if the shocks are so great that the system shifts into a new mode. The second idea is the need to adopt an ecosystem approach toward long term environmental management. The guidelines for implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention refer in several places to the need to preserve the integrity of cultural and natural heritages. The UNESCO World Heritage Convention applies to rather small scale “protected” areas. There is, of course, a very rich literature on ecological indicators. Some tentative ideas have been explored in this paper on the problem of designing a system to monitor ecosystem integrity.
