Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
problem identification process allows recognition of the wider issues (Crosby et al.
2000 ; Vos et al. 2007 ). Landscape ecologists can make an important contribution
to this stage of the problem-solving process by helping to: (1) articulate landscape
sustainability problems and their interactions with landscape structure and change;
(2) identify and draft desired directions and visions for landscape change; and (3)
anticipate future problems.
Stage 2: Set agreed objectives and management actions. The second stage in the
problem-solving process is to set agreed landscape sustainability objectives and
possible management actions. Objective setting is a transdisciplinary activity
where landscape ecologists need to work with social and economic researchers,
and stakeholders, to ensure the objectives are quantifiable, able to be prioritised
and achievable. This is critical as poorly defined objectives are less likely to result
in effective or measurable outcomes (Knight et al. 2006 ). Objectives need to be set
within a medium-long time horizon, normally 15-20 years, with endpoints suffi-
ciently ambitious so as to inspire innovative solutions to sustainability problems
(Fischer et al. 2007 ).
Although this is an area where landscape ecologists have not traditionally had a
strong involvement, they in fact have an important supportive role in setting
objectives for the sustainable functioning of the ecological system. In working to
ensure that objectives are achieved in a cost-effective, timely and socially
acceptable manner, landscape ecologists need to recognise that the ecological
system, while vital for landscape sustainability, is one part of a larger system that
includes social, economic and institutional components. By adopting this
approach, landscape ecologists will need to engage with other disciplines and a
diverse range of stakeholders in transdisciplinary research.
Stage 3: Re-conceptualize the problem and conduct data analysis and inte-
gration. The aim of this stage is to re-conceptualise the problem and predict the
likely outcomes and uncertainties of the set of possible management actions within
the specified time frame in terms of the management objectives. Landscape
ecologists are well equipped to make an important contribution to this stage of the
problem-solving process by conceptualising processes operating at different scales
relevant to the problem, providing landscape-scale data, models and analyses
relevant to the specified management objectives and actions. Critical consider-
ations include: (1) what are the relevant system components, processes, dynamics
and scales/boundaries of the studied system; (2) what is the current level of
understanding of these processes and what data (empirical and expert) and models
are available to represent and predict these processes; (3) how can process models
be better integrated with socio-economic models; and (4) what is the level of
uncertainty of these data and model predictions. These analyses need to go beyond
ecological assessments and inventories associated with landscape planning (Golley
and Bellot 1999 ; Steinitz et al. 2003 ) by providing a more detailed understanding
and prediction of landscape processes, functions and dynamics, and by including
human activities as components of the landscape.
Landscape ecologists need to work with other discipline areas to design the
methodology and assemble and analyse data relevant to these processes. This
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