Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management

This book, originally published in 1978, develops an adaptive approach to environmental impact assessment and management and is based on a study initiated by a workshop convened in early 1974 by SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment). CS Holling discusses the nature and behavior of ecological systems and its issues, limitations, and potential of environmental assessment. Further, he discusses the various methods of environmental impact assessment as a guide to the design of new environmental development and management projects. This approach surveys the features of the environment likely to be affected by the developments under consideration, analyses the information collected, tries to predict the impact of these developments and lays down guidelines or rules for their management. This book is concerned with practical problems, e.g. development in Canada, the management of fisheries, pest control, etc. It is devoted to a general understanding of the environmental systems through methods that have worked in the real world with its many certanties. It does not reject the idea of environmental impact analysis but rather stresses the need for fundamental understanding of the structure and dynamics of ecosystems. Crawford Holling received his B.A. and M.Sc. at the University of Toronto (1952) and his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia (1957). He worked in the laboratories of the Department of the Environment, Government of Canada. Since then, he has been, at various times, Professor and Director of the Institute of Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Vienna, Austria. He now occupies the Arthur R. Marshall Jr. Chair in Ecological Sciences at the University of Florida and has launched a comparative study of the structure and dynamics of ecosystems.

With the needs of the environment and the movement toward sustainability ever in mind, designers and managers of projects find themselves needing more quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques to assess environmental impacts and present their findings in a clear and cogent manner. In this report, contributors describe their efforts to develop an adaptive approach to environmental impact assessment and management for managers and policy makers who are dissatisfied with traditional procedures. They describe their approach, including steps in the process, orchestrating an assessment and choosing a technique, promoting better understanding, invalidating the model, evaluating alternative policies and communicating. They provide five case studies ranging from forest and fisheries management to development of a high mountain region and a wildlife information system. Appendices include a set of assessment techniques.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

With the needs of the environment and the movement toward sustainability ever in mind, designers and managers of projects find themselves needing more quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques to assess environmental impacts and present their findings in a clear and cogent manner. In this report, contributors describe their efforts to develop an adaptive approach to environmental impact assessment and management for managers and policy makers who are dissatisfied with traditional procedures. They describe their approach, including steps in the process, orchestrating an assessment and choosing a technique, promoting better understanding, invalidating the model, evaluating alternative policies and communicating. They provide five case studies ranging from forest and fisheries management to development of a high mountain region and a wildlife information system. Appendices include a set of assessment techniques. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)