According to a report by the Council of Canadian Academies expert panel on integrated natural resource management (INRM), conventional methods of natural resource management haven’t kept pace with the scale and complexity of 21st century problems. IEG ecologist Matt Carlson and other panel members found that integration is needed to address current realities, and overcome the limitations of conventional approaches which focus on managing individual activities and resources. INRM calls for higher-order decision-making that embraces land-use planning and strategic assessment at regional scales, enabling better and more efficient decision-making at project-specific stages. The Panel highlighted the importance of considering multiple ways of knowing in INRM, including Indigenous and local knowledge. Governance processes that enable broad involvement in natural resource management decision making are also identified as necessary.
Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: Toward Integrated Natural Resource Management in Canada sets out a framework for understanding INRM and explores the processes that can support it. The report provides leaders, practitioners, and others with the information they need to apply INRM, exploring barriers, as well as effective and promising practices to overcome them.
