Evaluating management strategies

Question:
Evaluate traditional and contemporary management strategies applied to intertidal wetlands.

Evaluate: presenting and defending opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of
criteria.

What is a criteria?
A criteria is a set of standards that you use to judge something. For example, you would refer to the criteria to decide how successful the management strategies have been.

An evaluation of management strategies focuses on the concept of sustainability. The criteria to judge management strategies are:
  
  • Intragenerational equity   
  • Intergenerational equity
  • The precautionary approach
  •  Biological diversity

What do the criteria mean?
Intragenerational equity
  • Are people able to benefit from the ecosystem?
  • Are people able to access
    various part of the ecosystem?
  • Is the present generation of people able
    to use the resources within the ecosystem? (Consider what use of resources
    actually means).
  • Is the current population able to benefit from the
    ecosystem’s aesthetic values
  • (the way the ecosystem looks)?
Intragenerational equity
  • Is the use and management of the ecosystem maintaining the quality of the
    ecosystem for the
    future? ·        
  • Will people
    in the future be able to access various parts of the ecosystem?
  • Will people in the future be able to use the resources of the ecosystem?
  • Is the current population able to benefit from the ecosystem’s
    aesthetic values (the way the ecosystem looks)?
The precautionary approach
  • Has the ecosystem become more or less susceptible to human or natural
    stress?
  • Are there attempts to improve knowledge of the threats to
    the ecosystem?
  • Do management strategies take into account best and worst
    case scenarios for threats to the ecosystem?
  • Are historical processes maintained (e.g. the ability to adapt to changes)?
Biological diversity
  • What changes have taken place within food webs/chains?
  • Are there still as many links within the chains and webs?
  • Has the diversity of the ecosystem been diminished in any way?
  • Is genetic diversity maintained?
  • Has there been a reduction or increase of any species? What impact will this have?
  • Is the ecosystem still functioning effectively in terms of biological processes, etc?
In your response to this question you will need to describe the management strategy, and make a judgement about how effective it is. Use terms such as totally ineffective, somewhat ineffective, moderately effective, very effective.