ABSTRACT
The idea to apply an assessment of ecosystem health in environmental management emerged in the late 1980s. The parallel to the assessment of human health is very obvious. We go to a doctor to get a diagnosis (What is wrong? What causes me to not feel completely healthy?) and hopefully initiate a cure to bring us back to normal (or healthy conditions). Doctors will apply several indicators/examinations (pulse, blood pressure, sugar in the blood, and urine, etc.) before they will come up with a diagnosis and a proper cure. The idea behind the assessment of ecosystem health is similar (Figure 1.1). We observe that an ecosystem is not healthy and want a diagnosis: What is wrong? What caused this unhealthy condition? And what can we do to bring the ecosystem back to normal? To answer these questions, and also to follow the results of the “cure,” ecological indicators are applied. The figure illustrates how ecological indicators are used for EHA and to follow the effect of the environmental management plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429132667/ebf5f70d-0888-41db-90c5-0f1c8656c35e/content/fig1_1.tif"/>
