Natural resource management

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The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is managed by the United States Forest Service.

Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural resource management is congruent with the concept of sustainable development, a scientific principle that forms a basis for sustainable global land management and environmental governance to conserve and preserve natural resources.

Natural resource management specifically focuses on a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology and the life-supporting capacity of those resources.^[1] The term Environmental management is also similar to natural resource management.

History

The Bureau of Land Management in the United States manages America's public lands, totaling approximately 264 million acres (1,070,000 km2) or one-eighth of the landmass of the country.

The Natural resource management emphasis on sustainability can be traced back to early attempts to understand the ecological nature of American rangelands in the late 19th century, and the resource conservation movement of the same time.^[2][3] This type of analysis coalesced in the 20th century, and took on a more holistic, national and even global form, culminating in the Brundtland Commission and the advocacy of sustainable development. Eco-tourism to some extent can be utilized as a tool for natural resource management.^{[citation needed]}

See also

	Environment portal
	Ecology portal
	Earth sciences portal
	Sustainable development portal

References