Sustainable ecosystem management was used by a large part of populations thousands of years ago. The native population in the United States before the arrival of Europeans barely changed ecosystems because they preferred to adapt to them rather than change them.[10]​[11]​ The adoption of the broad philosophy underlying ecosystem management is a recognition that technical and scientific knowledge, although necessary in all approaches to natural resource management, is insufficient. Science is simply one component of natural resource management and ecosystem management explicitly recognizes this fact.[12]​.

Stakeholders are individuals or groups of people who have an interest in or are affected by policy or management decisions and actions, but may also have power to influence objectives, policies and decisions related to ecosystem management.[13]​ The complex nature of decisions made in ecosystem management, from local to international scales, requires the participation of stakeholders with a diversity of knowledge, perceptions and values of nature.[14]​[15]​ Stakeholders will often have different interests in ecosystem services. ecosystem.[16]​ This means that effective ecosystem management requires a flexible management process that develops mutual trust on issues of common interest with the goal of creating mutually beneficial partnerships.[17]​.

Adaptive management") is based on the concept that predicting future influences/disturbances on an ecosystem is limited and unclear.[18]​ Therefore, the goal of adaptive management is to manage the ecosystem so that it maintains the greatest amount of ecological integrity, but also to use management practices that have the ability to change based on new experiences and knowledge.[19][20]​.

Adaptive management aims to identify uncertainties in the management of an ecosystem while using hypothesis testing "Hypothesis (scientific method)") to better understand the system.[21]​ In this sense, adaptive management encourages learning from the results of previously implemented management strategies.[20]​ Ecosystem managers form hypotheses about the ecosystem and its functionality and then implement different management techniques to test the hypotheses.[22]​ The implemented techniques are analyzed to evaluate any regressions. or improvement in ecosystem functionality caused by the technique. Further analysis allows modification of the technique until it successfully meets the ecological needs of the ecosystem.[23] Therefore, adaptive management serves as a "learning by doing" method for ecosystem management.

Adaptive management has had mixed success in the field of ecosystem management, fisheries management, wildlife management and forest management, possibly because ecosystem managers may not be equipped with the decision-making skills necessary to carry out an adaptive management methodology.[24]​ Additionally, economic, social and political priorities can interfere with adaptive management decisions.[25]​ For this reason, adaptive management to be successful must be a social and scientific process, focusing in institutional strategies while implementing experimental management techniques.[26]​.

The term natural resource management is frequently used when dealing with a particular resource for human use rather than managing the entire ecosystem.[27]​ A primary goal of natural resource management is sustainability for future generations. One method to achieve this is to appoint ecosystem managers to balance the exploitation and conservation of natural resources in the long term.[28]​ The balanced relationship of each resource in an ecosystem is subject to change at different spatial and temporal scales.[29]​ Dimensions such as watersheds, soils, flora and fauna must be considered individually and at the landscape level. A variety of natural resources are used for food, medicine, energy and housing.[30]​.

The concept of ecosystem management is based on the relationship between the sustainable maintenance of resources and human demand for the use of natural resources.[31]​ Therefore, socioeconomic factors significantly affect the management of natural resources.[32]​ The goal of a natural resource manager is to meet the demand for a given resource without harming the ecosystem or endangering the future of the resource.[33]​ Partnerships between ecosystem managers, natural resource managers and stakeholders should be encouraged to promote a more sustainable use of limited natural resources.[34] Natural resource managers must initially measure the overall condition of the ecosystem in which they are involved. If ecosystem resources are healthy, managers can decide the ideal amount of resource extraction, while leaving enough to allow the resource to replenish itself for subsequent harvests.[35] Historically, some natural resources have experienced limited human disturbance and have therefore been able to subsist naturally. However, some ecosystems, such as forests, which typically provide considerable wood resources; They have sometimes undergone successful reforestation processes and, consequently, have adapted to the needs of future generations. A successfully managed resource will meet current demand and leave enough to repopulate and meet future demand.

Human populations have increased rapidly, introducing new stressors to ecosystems, such as climate change and the influx of invasive species. As a result, the demand for natural resources is unpredictable.[36]​ Although ecosystem changes may occur gradually, cumulative changes can have negative effects for humans and wildlife.[37]​ Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing applications can be used to monitor and evaluate natural resources by mapping them at local and global scales. These tools will continue to be highly beneficial in the management of natural resources.[31]​.

Strategic management encourages the establishment of objectives that will sustain the ecosystem while taking into account socioeconomic and politically relevant policy drivers.[2]​ Strategic management differs from other types of ecosystem management because it keeps stakeholders involved and relies on their input to develop the best management strategy for an ecosystem. Similar to other modes of ecosystem management, this method places a high level of importance on the assessment and review of any changes, progress or negative impacts and prioritizes flexibility to adapt management protocols as a result of new information.[38]​.

Landscape-level conservation is a method that considers wildlife needs on a broader landscape-level scale when implementing conservation initiatives.[39]​ This approach to ecosystem management involves the consideration of large-scale, interconnected ecological systems that recognize the full scope of an environmental problem.[40]​ In a human-dominated world, weighing wildlife landscape requirements against human needs is a complicated matter.[41]​.

Conservation at the landscape level is carried out in several ways. A wildlife corridor, for example, is a connection between isolated patches of habitat that is proposed as a solution to habitat fragmentation.[42]​ In some landscape-level conservation approaches, a key species vulnerable to landscape alteration is identified and its habitat requirements are assessed to identify the best option to protect its ecosystem.[43]​ However, aligning the habitat requirements of numerous species in an ecosystem can be difficult, so more comprehensive approaches have been considered to better understand these variations in conservation at the landscape level.[44]​.

Human-induced environmental degradation is a growing problem globally, so landscape-level ecology plays an important role in ecosystem management.[45] Traditional conservation methods targeting individual species must be modified to include the maintenance of wildlife habitats through consideration of both natural and human-induced environmental factors.[46]

Command and control management uses a linear problem-solving approach where a perceived problem is resolved through control devices such as laws, threats, contracts and/or agreements.[47] This top-down approach is used in many disciplines and works best with problems that are relatively simple, well-defined and operate in terms of cause and effect and for which there is broad social agreement as to management policies and objectives.[48] The application of command and control management has often attempted to control nature to improve produce extractions, establish predictability, and reduce threats.[49]​ Some obvious examples of command and control management actions include: the use of herbicides and pesticides to safeguard crops in order to harvest more produce; the culling of predators for larger, more reliable game species; and safeguarding the wood supply by suppressing forest fires.

Attempts at command and control management often backfire (a literal problem in forests that have been 'protected' from fire by humans and are subsequently filled with fuel accumulation) on ecosystems due to their inherent complexities. Consequently, there has been a transition away from command and control management due to many undesirable outcomes and a stronger focus has been placed on more holistic approaches that focus on adaptive management and finding solutions through partnerships.[50]​.

Sustainable ecosystem management was used by a large part of populations thousands of years ago. The native population in the United States before the arrival of Europeans barely changed ecosystems because they preferred to adapt to them rather than change them.[10]​[11]​ The adoption of the broad philosophy underlying ecosystem management is a recognition that technical and scientific knowledge, although necessary in all approaches to natural resource management, is insufficient. Science is simply one component of natural resource management and ecosystem management explicitly recognizes this fact.[12]​.

Stakeholders are individuals or groups of people who have an interest in or are affected by policy or management decisions and actions, but may also have power to influence objectives, policies and decisions related to ecosystem management.[13]​ The complex nature of decisions made in ecosystem management, from local to international scales, requires the participation of stakeholders with a diversity of knowledge, perceptions and values of nature.[14]​[15]​ Stakeholders will often have different interests in ecosystem services. ecosystem.[16]​ This means that effective ecosystem management requires a flexible management process that develops mutual trust on issues of common interest with the goal of creating mutually beneficial partnerships.[17]​.

Adaptive management") is based on the concept that predicting future influences/disturbances on an ecosystem is limited and unclear.[18]​ Therefore, the goal of adaptive management is to manage the ecosystem so that it maintains the greatest amount of ecological integrity, but also to use management practices that have the ability to change based on new experiences and knowledge.[19][20]​.

Adaptive management aims to identify uncertainties in the management of an ecosystem while using hypothesis testing "Hypothesis (scientific method)") to better understand the system.[21]​ In this sense, adaptive management encourages learning from the results of previously implemented management strategies.[20]​ Ecosystem managers form hypotheses about the ecosystem and its functionality and then implement different management techniques to test the hypotheses.[22]​ The implemented techniques are analyzed to evaluate any regressions. or improvement in ecosystem functionality caused by the technique. Further analysis allows modification of the technique until it successfully meets the ecological needs of the ecosystem.[23] Therefore, adaptive management serves as a "learning by doing" method for ecosystem management.

Adaptive management has had mixed success in the field of ecosystem management, fisheries management, wildlife management and forest management, possibly because ecosystem managers may not be equipped with the decision-making skills necessary to carry out an adaptive management methodology.[24]​ Additionally, economic, social and political priorities can interfere with adaptive management decisions.[25]​ For this reason, adaptive management to be successful must be a social and scientific process, focusing in institutional strategies while implementing experimental management techniques.[26]​.

The term natural resource management is frequently used when dealing with a particular resource for human use rather than managing the entire ecosystem.[27]​ A primary goal of natural resource management is sustainability for future generations. One method to achieve this is to appoint ecosystem managers to balance the exploitation and conservation of natural resources in the long term.[28]​ The balanced relationship of each resource in an ecosystem is subject to change at different spatial and temporal scales.[29]​ Dimensions such as watersheds, soils, flora and fauna must be considered individually and at the landscape level. A variety of natural resources are used for food, medicine, energy and housing.[30]​.

The concept of ecosystem management is based on the relationship between the sustainable maintenance of resources and human demand for the use of natural resources.[31]​ Therefore, socioeconomic factors significantly affect the management of natural resources.[32]​ The goal of a natural resource manager is to meet the demand for a given resource without harming the ecosystem or endangering the future of the resource.[33]​ Partnerships between ecosystem managers, natural resource managers and stakeholders should be encouraged to promote a more sustainable use of limited natural resources.[34] Natural resource managers must initially measure the overall condition of the ecosystem in which they are involved. If ecosystem resources are healthy, managers can decide the ideal amount of resource extraction, while leaving enough to allow the resource to replenish itself for subsequent harvests.[35] Historically, some natural resources have experienced limited human disturbance and have therefore been able to subsist naturally. However, some ecosystems, such as forests, which typically provide considerable wood resources; They have sometimes undergone successful reforestation processes and, consequently, have adapted to the needs of future generations. A successfully managed resource will meet current demand and leave enough to repopulate and meet future demand.

Human populations have increased rapidly, introducing new stressors to ecosystems, such as climate change and the influx of invasive species. As a result, the demand for natural resources is unpredictable.[36]​ Although ecosystem changes may occur gradually, cumulative changes can have negative effects for humans and wildlife.[37]​ Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing applications can be used to monitor and evaluate natural resources by mapping them at local and global scales. These tools will continue to be highly beneficial in the management of natural resources.[31]​.

Strategic management encourages the establishment of objectives that will sustain the ecosystem while taking into account socioeconomic and politically relevant policy drivers.[2]​ Strategic management differs from other types of ecosystem management because it keeps stakeholders involved and relies on their input to develop the best management strategy for an ecosystem. Similar to other modes of ecosystem management, this method places a high level of importance on the assessment and review of any changes, progress or negative impacts and prioritizes flexibility to adapt management protocols as a result of new information.[38]​.

Landscape-level conservation is a method that considers wildlife needs on a broader landscape-level scale when implementing conservation initiatives.[39]​ This approach to ecosystem management involves the consideration of large-scale, interconnected ecological systems that recognize the full scope of an environmental problem.[40]​ In a human-dominated world, weighing wildlife landscape requirements against human needs is a complicated matter.[41]​.

Conservation at the landscape level is carried out in several ways. A wildlife corridor, for example, is a connection between isolated patches of habitat that is proposed as a solution to habitat fragmentation.[42]​ In some landscape-level conservation approaches, a key species vulnerable to landscape alteration is identified and its habitat requirements are assessed to identify the best option to protect its ecosystem.[43]​ However, aligning the habitat requirements of numerous species in an ecosystem can be difficult, so more comprehensive approaches have been considered to better understand these variations in conservation at the landscape level.[44]​.

Human-induced environmental degradation is a growing problem globally, so landscape-level ecology plays an important role in ecosystem management.[45] Traditional conservation methods targeting individual species must be modified to include the maintenance of wildlife habitats through consideration of both natural and human-induced environmental factors.[46]

Command and control management uses a linear problem-solving approach where a perceived problem is resolved through control devices such as laws, threats, contracts and/or agreements.[47] This top-down approach is used in many disciplines and works best with problems that are relatively simple, well-defined and operate in terms of cause and effect and for which there is broad social agreement as to management policies and objectives.[48] The application of command and control management has often attempted to control nature to improve produce extractions, establish predictability, and reduce threats.[49]​ Some obvious examples of command and control management actions include: the use of herbicides and pesticides to safeguard crops in order to harvest more produce; the culling of predators for larger, more reliable game species; and safeguarding the wood supply by suppressing forest fires.

Attempts at command and control management often backfire (a literal problem in forests that have been 'protected' from fire by humans and are subsequently filled with fuel accumulation) on ecosystems due to their inherent complexities. Consequently, there has been a transition away from command and control management due to many undesirable outcomes and a stronger focus has been placed on more holistic approaches that focus on adaptive management and finding solutions through partnerships.[50]​.