Policy and Operational Framework for Integrated Management of Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Environments in Canada

Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms

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Executive Summary 1.0 Introduction 2.0 A Canadian Policy for Integrated Management 3.0 An Operational Framework for Integrated Management Conclusion Appendix 1 Appendix 2
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Assigned responsibility:

An assignment of specific decision-making responsibility by mutual agreement. Accountability remains with the statutory authority.

Capacity building:

Enhancing the skills of people and the ability of institutions to participate in resources management through education and training.

Collaboration:

An approach to planning and decision-making aimed at improving relationships and seeking resolutions that meet the needs and interests of all parties to greatest possible degree.

Co-management:

A management approach in which responsibility for resource management is shared between the government and resource user groups.

Consensus building:

The building of agreement regarding decisions among government agencies, user groups, and local communities through informed discussion, negotiation, and public participation.

Consultation:

Participation in providing advice designed to provide many inputs to the decision-maker.

Ecosystem:

The system of interactive relationships among organisms (e.g. energy transfer), and between organisms and their physical environment (e.g. habitat) in a given geographical unit.

Ecosystem approach:

An approach to management that recognizes the complexity of ecosystems and the interconnections among component parts.

Ecosystem-based management:

The management of human activities so that ecosystems, their structure, function, composition, are maintained at appropriate temporal and spatial scales.

Integrated Management (IM):

A continuous process through which decisions are made for the sustainable use, development, and protection of areas and resources. IM acknowledges the interrelationships that exist among different uses and the environments they potentially affect. It is designed to overcome the fragmentation inherent in a sectoral management approach, analyzes the implications of development, conflicting uses and promotes linkages and harmonization among various activities.

Ecosystem Objective:

A narrative or numeric statement on the desired condition of an ecosystem, or of one of its constituents. Objectives may be set at various levels of detail, for example conceptual objectives that establish desired conditions, measurable objectives that allow for monitoring and operational objectives relating to concrete implementation measures. Ecosystem objectives will be set for Large Oceans Management Areas.

Marine Environmental Quality (MEQ) objective:

A numerical value or narrative statement describing a desired condition for a given ecosystem that is contained within an Integrated Management or Marine Protected Area. MEQ objectives are derived from broader assessment information such as ecosystem objectives.

Sectoral management:

A management approach in which various resources (in the ocean context these include fisheries operations, coral mining, oil and gas development, tourism) are managed independently of one another.
Stakeholders: Individuals or groups of people with particular interests in an issue or area. In the ocean management context, stakeholders may include: oil and gas developers, fishermen, subsistence harvesters, hotel owners, port developers, aquaculture farmers, environmental groups, government authorities and others.

Shared decision-making:

Participatory decision-making in which those with authority to make a decision, and those who will be affected by that decision, work together on an outcome that accommodates everyone’s interests as much as possible. The desired outcome of the process is a recommendation to the appropriate statutory authority, except in the case of an assigned responsibility, where the desired outcome of the process is a decision. Shared decision-making does not affect the discretion or affect the legal authority of the participating governments.

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