Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Ecosystem management lessons from around the world (pdf 1.1mb)

This guide produced by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) explains the principles behind an ecosystems-based approach to environmental management and development, and how they can improve the effectiveness and sustainability of development efforts.
 
Drawing on practical experiences from over 24 IUCN-funded projects, the guide shows how the success of ecosystem and natural habitats management will depend as much - perhaps more - on the management of social, economic and institutional factors as on the protection and management of the biophysical environment.
 
Key lessons from an ecosystems-based reflection on the environmental management efforts of the past include:
 
- Ecosystem management must be flexible in its approach, in order to adapt to continually changing situations and conditions
- Ecosystem management is only partly about ecological sciences, and has much to do with gaining an appreciation of the economic, social and cultural factors affecting the communities concerned with an ecosystem management project
- Public and community participation at all stages of project development and implementation is extremely important for success.
 
 

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