Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is an integrated approach to management that considers the entire ecosystem, including humans. The goal of ecosystem-based management is to maintain an ecosystem in a healthy, productive and resilient condition so that it can provide the services humans want and need. Ecosystem-based management differs from current approaches that usually focus on a single species, sector, activity or concern; it considers the cumulative impacts of different sectors.

Specifically, ecosystem-based management:

• emphasizes the protection of ecosystem structure, functioning, and key processes;
• is place-based in focusing on a specific ecosystem and the range of activities affecting it;
• explicitly accounts for the interconnectedness within systems, recognizing the importance of interactions between many target species or key services and other non-target species;
• acknowledges interconnectedness among systems, such as between air, land and sea; and
• integrates ecological, social, economic, and institutional perspectives, recognizing their strong interdependences.

Source: McLeod, K. L., J. Lubchenco, S. R. Palumbi, and A. A. Rosenberg. 2005. Scientific Consensus Statement on Marine Ecosystem-Based Management. Signed by 221 academic scientists and policy experts with relevant expertise and published by the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea.