Public Participation

• outcome pictures methodology
• workshops to raise better understanding of others’ perspectives;
• objective-orientated project planning (ZOPP);

• community participation mechanisms and systems;
• participatory rural appraisal (PRA);
• imaging methods(eg GIS) to allow people to envisage their ecosystem;
• community mapping;
• mechanisms for identifying the appropriate community of interest and also which bodies are truly representative of those communities of interest;
• rapid rural appraisal (RRA);
• sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA);
• decision support systems;
• community forestry and community-based forest management;
• community based wetland management;
• SARAR (self-esteem, associated strengths, resourcefulness, action planning, and responsibility);

• multi-criteria analysis involving stakeholders;
• stakeholder consultation as part of strategic environmental analysis;
• oral research and other research to collect information from communities for wider dissemination;
• involving stakeholders in the design and implementation of research (participatory research);

• Traditional management practices
• Community forums
• Sustainable self-governance (though often not realised to be sustainable but seen as traditional)

• gender analysis techniques;
• human rights tools;
• social network analysis;
• social assessment;

conflict management;
• establishing fora for reaching consensus on balance, partnerships, the establishment of trust;
• conflict resolution;

Education and Awareness

• communication strategy, plan and tools;
• feedback research and monitoring results
• Posting information on the Web eg Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) of the CBD
• translation of documents into local/non-technical language;
• public awareness campaigns (radio, TV, the press, publications, theatre);
• information and popularized science to transfer scientific results to decision-makers and stakeholders
• GIS tools, and other imaging methods to allow people to envisage their ecosystem;

• education to empower communities to understand the relationship between their fundamental goals and ecosystem management;
• collaborative learning with all levels;
• capacity building;
• helping stakeholders understand scientific methods and adaptive management methods
• helping stakeholder to use new tools and technologies to reduce work effort / energy consumption (eg fuel efficient stoves, ploughing techniques etc)

• information networks (online data and information), list serves, cross-sectoral roundtables, information exchange arenas, adaptive management workshops;
• communication networks and forums

• monkeywrenching / ecoterrorisim;

Governance, Law and Policy

• democratic tools;
• recognition of the types of power structures that exist in society, and use of institutional analysis;
• legal, policy, planning, technical and financial instruments;
• outsourcing of control to the private sector/NGOs (although this may be a risky option in many circumstances);
• facilitating or allowing additional effort by private sector groups to supplement government efforts;
• multi-disciplinary think tank, multi-party agreements/ policies;
• cross-sectoral trust fund management committees, friends of groups, and other to support management;

• International treaties/directives;
• Supranational directives and legislation;
• National regulations and legislation;
• Regional and local regulations and legislation;

• EIA (European legal context);
• SEA (European legal context) ;
• social impact assessment tools;
• International and Supranational treaties/directives;

• policy and regulation, e.g. polluter pays principle; development of markets for ecosystem services,;
• laws and the potential for criminal prosecution (eg through enforcement agencies);

• policies to address adjacent and off-site impacts;
• broad scale management systems, such as river basin authorities, central government planning systems;
• national development planning, strategies, management plans and programmes;
• developing information management structures at across policy levels;
• national conferences, workshops, etc to examine cross-boundary effects and enhance cooperation between managers of adjacent systems;
• integrated land use planning;
• cross-sectoral planning;

Management and Incentives

• change management tools (i.e. tools for managing changes in institutions), including tools for decentralising money and staff resources;
• institutional analysis tools, business systems theory, management theory;
• mechanisms to deal with lack of continuity in institutions, including clear documentation, induction processes; information sharing systems (e.g. Aarhus convention), audit trails;
• mechanisms for identifying the appropriate community of interest;
• tools for building institutional capacity;
• policy, planning and decision-making systems;
• DPSIR (driving forces-pressures-state-impact-response);

• EIA tools;
• environmental valuation methods for example willingness to pay, contingent valuation, cost-benefit analysis, travel costs, hedonic valuation, opportunity costs, Extended Domestic Resource Cost (EDRC) analysis;
• payment for environmental goods and services provided;
• technical and financial instruments;

• keeping options open and avoiding actions with irreversible effects;
• adaptive collaborative management;
• adaptive management workshops;
• double-loop learning;
• helping stakeholders adopt adaptive management methods;

• reserve management plans
• annual work programmes
• practical management manuals and handbooks
• identification and promotion of good practices, guidelines, case studies, codes of conduct, risk assessment

• techniques (eg grazing densities, individual tree management, dune stabilisation techniques)
• tool development (new tools which benefit physical management – eg seed harvesters)
• technology development and technology transfer (better resource use eg solar and wind energy)

• ecotourism;
• alternative employment opportunities and income-generating activities (not necessarily connected to conservation, but leading to sustainability);
• alternative resource use;
• multifunctional use of resources (for either or social, economic and environmental benefits)

• Certification, labelling schemes,
• value-added processing and marketing,;
• Boycotts;

• Positive incentives eg lower tax rates;
• Disincentives eg fines and penalties;
• Indirect incentives eg emission trading schemes;

Data, Monitoring and Modelling

• remote sensing;
• satellites, GIS systems, aerial photographs;
• inventories;
• assessments;
• surveys;
• growth and yield studies;
• local knowledge

• monitoring protocols to allow data to be compared;
• translation of targeted, applied research;
• long-term monitoring programme such as long term ecological research (LTER) and others;
• National register of experts;

• modelling systems (scientific) coupled with the necessary data;
• scenario building and development, (eg climate and socio-cultural);
• spatial land-use models, landscape visualisation; watershed and river basin models;

• reconstructing history of system, including pollen, carbon dating, ice cores, traditional knowledge, folklore, and covering of cultural and economic issues;

Protected Areas and Land Use Policy

• ecological network frameworks;
• national protected area system frameworks;
• biosphere reserves and other protected areas;
• ecological corridors
• Integrated river basin management, large marine ecosystems, natural areas, INRM;
• Transboundary protected areas
• Integration of protected areas into wider land and sea scapes

• management and restoration plans;
• land care strategies;
• landscape planning;
• biosphere reserves and other protected areas;
• national forest programmes;
• land banking

• legislation banning persecution of protected species;

• managed realignment;
• habitat restoration;

• captive breeding;
• gene banking;

Cross-sectoral Research and Working

• interdisciplinary research such as in functional analysis, ethnobotanical studies, strengthening of capacity, both individual and institutional to undertake research;
• cross-sectoral roundtables
• intersectoral working groups;
• cross-sectoral planning and policy systems;

Indicators

• monitoring, evaluation and review, yield, other indices, carrying capacities;
• performance indicators, targets;
• logical framework approach;
• SMART indicators;

Other Tools and Resources Available to Assist with Application of the Ecosystem Approach

WWF Mountains to the Sea Initiative