Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Is sustainable development a workable solution for today's environmental problems? Is it scientifically defensible? Best known for applying ecological theory to the engineering problems of everyday life, the late scholar James J. Kay was a leader in the study of social and ecological complexity and the thermodynamics of ecosystems. Drawing from his immensely important work, as well as the research of his students and colleagues, The Ecosystem Approach is a guide to the aspects of complex systems theories relevant to social-ecological management.

Advancing a methodology that is rooted in good theory and practice, this book features case studies conducted in the Arctic and Africa, in Canada and Kathmandu, and in the Peruvian Amazon, Chesapeake Bay, and Chennai, India. Applying a systems approach to concrete environmental issues, this volume is geared toward scientists, engineers, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners who are attuned to the ideas of the Resilience Alliance-an international group of scientists who take a more holistic view of ecology and environmental problem-solving. Chapters cover the origins and rebirth of the ecosystem approach in ecology; the bridging of science and values; the challenge of governance in complex systems; systemic and participatory approaches to management; and the place for cultural diversity in the quest for global sustainability.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• Part I Some theoretical bases for a new ecosystem approach
• 1 An Introduction to Systems Thinking
• 2 Framing the Situation: Developing a system description
• 3 Scale and type: a requirement for addressing complexity with dynamical quality
• 4 Self-Organizing
• 5 So what changes? Implications of complexity for an ecosystem approach to management
• 6 Bridging Science and Values: The Challenge of Biodiversity
• 7 The cultural basis for an ecosystem approach
• 8 A Family of Origin for an Ecosystem Approach to Managing for Sustainability Martin Bunch
• Part II Case studies: Learning by Doing
• 9 Linking hard and soft systems in local development Reg Noble
• 10 Human Activity and the Ecosystem Approach: The contribution of Soft Systems Methodology to managing the Cooum River in Chennai
• 11 Landscape Perspectives on Agroecosystem Health in the Great Lakes Basin
• 12 An Agroecosystem Health case study in the Central Highlands of Kenya
• 13 Food, by Floods and Farming: an Ecosystem Approach to Human Health on the Peruvian Amazon frontier Tamsyn Murray
• Part II Managing for Sustainability: Meeting the Challenges
• 14 Implementing an Ecosystem Approach: The Diamond and AMESH
• 15 Return to Kathmandu: A Post-Hoc Application of AMESH
• 16 Tools for Learning: monitoring and indicator development
• Part IV Where to from here? Some challenges for a new science in an uncertain world
• 17 Beyond complex systems - Emergent complexity and social solidarity
• 18 Third World inequity, by critical political economy and an ecosystem approach
• 19 An Ecosystem Approach for sustaining ecological integrity--but which ecological integrity?
• 20 The water or the wave? Toward an ecosystem approach for cross-cultural dialogue on the Whanganui River, by New Zealand Charlotte Helen Sunde A Tribute
• Appendix A Hierarchy and holonocracy
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Today, the traditional views of medicine and science are being challenged by a more unifying way of interpreting data. In the past, nature was understood by putting together bits and pieces of information to build a whole picture. This method, called reductionism, is now being supplanted by a systems approach to viewing nature. A "systems approach" study focuses on complex interactions, and then takes into consideration the role of each part. When applied to environmental research, this approach is called system ecology. The Ecosystem Approach is a collection of contemporary essays on holistic ways of interpreting ecological research. Divided into four parts, the book starts with chapters on systems thinking and how it fits into ecological research. Part 2 presents several case studies on system ecology. The third section relates system ecology to sustainable environmental policies and practices. Part 4 closes with future applications of system ecology in resolving international environmental problems. Each chapter contains useful diagrams and tables, and includes current original citations of systems ecology research and systems approach theory. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners. B. R. Shmaefsky Lone Star College - Kingwood

Author notes provided by Syndetics

David Waltner-Toews is a professor of epidemiology in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. With James Kay, Michelle Boyle, and David Cressman, he cofounded the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health. He was also founding president of Veterinarians without Borders/Vétérinaires sans Frontières-Canada.

James J. Kay (1955-2004) was associate professor in environment and resource studies at the University of Waterloo, where he also held cross-appointments in systems design engineering and urban planning.

Nina-Marie E. Lister is a registered professional planner and associate professor in urban and regional planning at Ryerson University in Toronto.
David Waltner-Toews is a Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. He was trained both as a biologist and a veterinarian. He is the founder of the organization Veterinarians Without Borders.James J. Kay was Professor of Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo. He is internationally known for applying ideas from thermodynamics to ecological systems.Nina-Marie E. Lister is Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto.