Landscape management for environmental security: some perspectives of adaptive management approaches

Managing Socio-Ecological Landscapes (SELs) for environmental security implies the recognition that social systems interact with ecological systems, and requires new strategies to improve environmental policies, in light of the mismatch between existing global management capacity and likely threats to environmental resources. This because mismanagement is recognized as one of the main causes that generates environmental insecurity. Thus, decision-makers should consider whether a course of action is reversible and should utilize procedures to evaluate the outcomes of actions, learning from them. These are the principles of adaptive management, based on the ability to adapt to change considered as an intrinsic feature of SELs. In the conclusion we present some general requirements to enhance environmental security through adaptive management approach, highlighting that managing SELs for environmental security demands for a new strategy which includes uncertainty and the dynamics of systems.

Keywords: adaptive management; environmental security; socio-ecological landscape; stakeholders’ participation