Over the past twenty years, it has been pro posed that natural resource management should take an ecosystem based approach, i.e. it should take the entire ecosystem into consideration. Management should maintain or improve the ecosystem and should provide a variety of goods and services to present and future generations.

Among the components of ecosystem management are:

• Consideration of the connections between different levels of biodiversity (genes, species, populations, ecosystems, landscapes).
  
  
• Inclusion of appropriate spatial scales to include the relevant ecological processes; definition of ecological boundaries rather than administrative boundaries.
  
  
• Acceptance of human society as part of the ecosystem; consideration of current requirements for maintenance of environment in order to meet future needs.
  
  
• Emulation of natural disturbance regimes in order to maintain biodiversity.
  
  
• Maintenance of ecological integrity through the protection of viable populations, patterns and processes of all native species.
  
  
• Consideration of appropriate time scales: Adoption of long-term planning.
  
  
• Introduction of management experiments with experimental design, including adequate monitoring and documentation of the effects of the management, in order to learn.
  
  
• Promotion of interagency coordination and communication with society.