Ecosystem based management (EBM) is a holistic and adaptive approach to developing effective policies for ensuring ecosystem sustainability, food and water security, and improved human health outcomes for future generations. Informed by science, it incorporates the entire ecosystem, including humans, into resource management decisions. Importantly, EBM explicitly considers tradeoffs in resource uses while protecting and sustaining diverse and productive ecosystems and the services they provide.

The goal of this project is to identify three to five regional ecosystems where EBM could be enabled by strategic implementation of a significant research effort to fill knowledge gaps that limit effective action. In partner with UMCES faculty at Horn Point Laboratory, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, and Maryland Sea Grant, IAN staff will be responsible for coordinating and facilitating stakeholder meetings and developing synthesis products, graphics, and science communication products throughout the process.