Uncertainty, Risk and Ecosystem Management

摘要

Ronald Sandier (2013) argues that rapid anthropogenic climate change (CC) undermines traditional ecosystem management goals. According to Sandier, this implies that ecological restoration should play a decreased role in future ecosystem management, while reserve oriented strategies might remain viable as long as we change the goals for ecosystem management in the light of CC. While I am overall sympathetic to Sandler's argument and agree with his analysis of CC's impact on existing ecosystem management strategies and goals, I want to critically highlight some shortcomings of Sandler's argument. In particular, Sandier seems to deal in his own positive proposal inadequately with the issues of risk and uncertainty, which play a crucial role in his argument against existing management strategies and goals.