ABSTRACT
We use “adaptive ecosystem management” to emphasize that management goals include not only the amelioration of externalities but also the incorporation of social, normative values and ecological principles into the process of decision-and policy-making so as to prevent environmental degradation. Adaptive ecosystem management systems are such dynamic and flexible management systems so that they can respond to ecological, social, and economic feedbacks; their different spatiotemporal scales; and the inherent uncertainties coupled with them. They are also reliant on local communities and indigenous ecosystem goods and services in a regional and global context because the severity of social and environmental problems and the potentials for their solutions are best recognized from local communities. Furthermore, community-based policies can empower and mobilize local communities and their institutions to combat the underlying causes of environ mental degradation and their negative impacts voluntarily, through the decentralization of decision-making.
