Integrated catchment management
Encyclopedia
Integrated catchment management is a subset of environmental planning
which approaches sustainable resource management from a catchment perspective, in contrast to a piecemeal approach that artificially separates land management from water management.
Integrated catchment management recognizes the existence of ecosystem
s and their role in supporting flora and fauna, providing services
to human societies, and regulating the human environment. Integrated catchment management seeks to take into account complex relationships within those ecosystems: between flora and fauna, between geology and hydrology, between soils and the biosphere, and between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Integrated catchment management recognizes the cyclic nature of processes within an ecosystem, and values scientific and technical information for understanding and analysing the natural world.
Environmental planning
Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.-Elements of environmental...
which approaches sustainable resource management from a catchment perspective, in contrast to a piecemeal approach that artificially separates land management from water management.
Integrated catchment management recognizes the existence of ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s and their role in supporting flora and fauna, providing services
Ecosystem services
Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes...
to human societies, and regulating the human environment. Integrated catchment management seeks to take into account complex relationships within those ecosystems: between flora and fauna, between geology and hydrology, between soils and the biosphere, and between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Integrated catchment management recognizes the cyclic nature of processes within an ecosystem, and values scientific and technical information for understanding and analysing the natural world.
External links
- Landcare Research - Integrated Catchment Management
- ABC catchment fact sheet