Selected examples of practical steps to implement an
ecosystem approach in eight different sectors corresponding to
the workshop breakout sessions.
| Sector
| Practical Steps
|
| Land-Use Planning Within a Watershed
|
- Develop partnership agreement for watershed planning and
management
- Identify and empower an "umbrella" watershed organization for
coordination
- Compile inventory of ecosystem features and incorporate into
geographical information system for decision-making
- Develop policies and ordinances to preserve and enhance
ecosystem features
|
| Point Source Pollution
|
- Perform internal full cost accounting on all products,
processes, and services
- Ensure multi-media assessment of loadings and impacts
- Establish multi-media permitting for facilities
- Incorporate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into all regulatory and
incentive-based initiatives to control point sources
|
| Nonpoint Source Pollution
|
- Provide ecological assessments to landowners for protection
and enhancement of unique ecological features
- Use ecological inventory to prioritize nonpoint source
control actions throughout the watershed
- Develop whole farm plans to reduce nonpoint source pollution,
enhance habitat, maintain hydrology, and enhance economic
viability
- Develop and implement an illicit connection program for sewer
systems in urban areas
|
| Fisheries and Wildlife Management
|
- Ensure that fish stocking rates are determined after
consideration
of all trophic level interactions
- Identify and protect critical spawning and nursery areas to
achieve self-sustaining populations
- Incorporate cumulative (spatial and temporal) land-use
effects into analysis and decision-making for fish and wildlife goals and
targets
- When communicating fish and wildlife management needs to
other sectors, ensure that fish and wildlife are put in the context of
function and requirements of the system
|
| Habitat
|
- Incorporate habitat protection into master, land-use, and
watershed plans, zoning ordinances, etc.
- Seek permanent protection of ecologically significant
habitats by purchasing land, establishing easements, etc.
- Establish citizen stewardship program to help inventory
habitat and work with landowners and agency people to enhance habitat
- Ensure that all construction and maintenance projects for
structures (e.g. breakwalls, piers) address secondary benefits of incidental
habitat
|
| Transportation
|
- Ensure democratic transportation planning processes with
ecosystem
education component
- Achieve greater multi-modal balance within bioregions
- Ensure bioregional coordination of transportation plans
- Utilize economic and market incentives to ensure full cost
accounting
in transportation planning
|
| Economic Development for Sustainability
|
- Establish watershed as unit for visioning, planning, and
management
for environmentally-sustainable economic development
- Ensure full costs and benefits are assessed for each project
in watershed
- Ensure best management plan manuals incorporate economic and
non-economic benefits and costs for affected parties
- Governments should make greater use of economic instruments
to achieve
win-win solutions for environment and economy
|
| Human Resource Development and Education
|
- Perform strategic analysis of ecosystem messages and audience
- Ensure strategic development of shared actions, with
appropriate
communications, evaluation, and follow-up
- Ensure adequate education and human resource development on
practical
application of an ecosystem approach within governments
- Use governmental outreach programs to show how an ecosystem
approach
can be used to establish a stewardship ethic among stakeholders
|