The Ecosystem Approach
Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Sustainability
Will be published approx. on 11. August 2008
Book
Hardback
408 pages
978-0-231-13250-3 (ISBN)
Description
Is sustainable development a workable solution for today's environmental problems? Is it scientifically defensible? Best known for applying ecological theory to the engineering problems of everyday life, the late scholar James J. Kay was a leader in the study of social and ecological complexity and the thermodynamics of ecosystems. Drawing from his immensely important work, as well as the research of his students and colleagues, The Ecosystem Approach is a guide to the aspects of complex systems theories relevant to social-ecological management. Advancing a methodology that is rooted in good theory and practice, this book features case studies conducted in the Arctic and Africa, in Canada and Kathmandu, and in the Peruvian Amazon, Chesapeake Bay, and Chennai, India. Applying a systems approach to concrete environmental issues, this volume is geared toward scientists, engineers, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners who are attuned to the ideas of the Resilience Alliance-an international group of scientists who take a more holistic view of ecology and environmental problem-solving.
Chapters cover the origins and rebirth of the ecosystem approach in ecology; the bridging of science and values; the challenge of governance in complex systems; systemic and participatory approaches to management; and the place for cultural diversity in the quest for global sustainability.
Chapters cover the origins and rebirth of the ecosystem approach in ecology; the bridging of science and values; the challenge of governance in complex systems; systemic and participatory approaches to management; and the place for cultural diversity in the quest for global sustainability.
Reviews / Votes
A copy of The Ecosystem Approach should be placed on the desk of every engineer, manager, environmentalist, politician and teacher. -- Kyrke Gaudreau Alternatives JournalMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
6 halftones, 43 line drawings, 33 tables
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Weight
879 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-13250-3 (9780231132503)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2008
1st Edition
Columbia University Press
from
€82.09
Available for download
David Waltner-Toews | James Kay | Nina-Marie Lister
The Ecosystem Approach
Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Sustainability
Book
08/2008
Columbia University Press
€55.76
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Persons
David Waltner-Toews is a professor of epidemiology in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. With James Kay, Michelle Boyle, and David Cressman, he cofounded the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health. He was also founding president of Veterinarians without Borders/Veterinaires sans Frontieres-Canada. James J. Kay (1955-2004) was associate professor in environment and resource studies at the University of Waterloo, where he also held cross-appointments in systems design engineering and urban planning. Nina-Marie E. Lister is a registered professional planner and associate professor in urban and regional planning at Ryerson University in Toronto. David Waltner-Toews is a Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. He was trained both as a biologist and a veterinarian. He is the founder of the organization Veterinarians Without Borders.James J. Kay was Professor of Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo. He is internationally known for applying ideas from thermodynamics to ecological systems.Nina-Marie E. Lister is Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto.
Content
Preface, by David Waltner-Toews, Nina-Marie E. Lister, and Stephen Bocking Part I. Some Theoretical Bases for a New Ecosystem Approach 1. An Introduction to Systems Thinking, by James Kay 2. Framing the Situation: Developing a System Description, by James Kay 3. Scale and Type: a Requirement for Addressing Complexity with Dynamical Quality, by Tim Allen 4. Self-Organizing, Holarchic, Open Systems (SOHOs), by Michelle Boyle and James Kay 5. So What Changes? Implications of Complexity for an Ecosystem Approach to Management, by James Kay 6. Bridging Science and Values: The Challenge of Biodiversity, by Nina-Marie E. Lister 7. The Cultural Basis for an Ecosystem Approach, by Fikret Berkes and Iain Davidson-Hunt 8. A Family of Origin for an Ecosystem Approach to Managing for Sustainability, by Martin Bunch, Dan McCarthy, and David Waltner-Toews Part II. Case Studies: Learning by Doing 9. Linking Hard and Soft Systems in Local Development, by Reg Noble, Ricardo Ramirez, and Clive Lightfoot 10. Human Activity and the Ecosystem Approach: The Contribution of Soft Systems Methodology to Managing the Cooum River in Chennai India, by Martin Bunch 11. Landscape Perspectives on Agroecosystem Health in the Great Lakes Basin, by Dominique Charron and David Waltner-Toews 12. An Agroecosystem Health Case Study in the Central Highlands of Kenya, by Thomas Gitau, David Waltner-Toews, and John McDermott 13. Food, Floods, and Farming: An Ecosystem Approach to Human Health on the Peruvian Amazon Frontier, by Tamsyn P. Murray, David Waltner-Toews, Jose Sanchez-Choy, and Felix Sanchez-Zavala Part III. Managing for Sustainability: Meeting the Challenges 14. Implementing an Ecosystem Approach: The Diamond, AMESH, and Their Siblings, by David Waltner-Toews and James Kay 15. Return to Kathmandu: A Post-Hoc Application of AMESH, by R. Cynthia Neudoerffer, David Waltner-Toews, and James J. Kay 16. Tools for Learning: Monitoring and Indicator Development, by Michelle Boyle and James Kay Part IV. Where to from Here? Some Challenges for a New Science in an Uncertain World 17. Beyond Complex Systems-Emergent Complexity and Social Solidarity, by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerry Ravetz 18. Third World Inequity, Critical Political Economy, and the Ecosystem Approach, by Ernesto F. Raez-Luna 19. An Ecosystem Approach for Sustaining Ecological Integrity-but Which Ecological Integrity?, by David Manuel-Navarrete, Dan Dolderman, and James J. Kay 20. The Water or the Wave? Toward an Ecosystem Approach for Cross-Cultural Dialogue on the Whanganui River, New Zealand, by Charlotte Helen Sunde A Tribute to James Kay, by David Waltner-Toews et al. Appendix: Hierarchy and Holonocracy, by Henry Regier Contributors Index