The implications of complexity for integrated resources management

: Integrated environmental resources management is a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities. In many cases different goals are in conflict and the notion “Integrated” indicates clearly that resources management should be approached from a broad perspective taking all potential trade-offs and different scales in space and time into account. However, we are yet far from putting into practice integrated resources management taking fully into account the complexity of human-technology-environment systems. The tradition of resources management and of dealing with environmental problems is characterized by a command and control approach. The increasing awareness for the complexity of environmental problems and of human-technology-environment systems has triggered the development of new management approaches. The paper discusses the importance to focus on the transition to new management paradigms based...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: ENVSOFT
• Authors: C. Pahl-Wostl
• Keywords: ENVSOFT 2007, Management, Resources Management, Systems