Environmental Management

Environmental Management is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such but rather the management of the humankind's interaction with and impact upon the environment. The need for environmental management can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. A more common philosophy and impetus behind environmental management is the concept of carrying capacity. Simply put, carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of organisms a particular resource can sustain. The concept of carrying capacity, whilst understood by many cultures over history, has its roots in Malthusian theory. A common example of the consequences of exceeding the carrying capacity of an area is the starvation and eventual cannibalism of tribes on the Easter Islands after the depletion of the island's resources. Environmental management is therefore not the conservation of the environment solely for the environment's sake, but rather the conservation of the environment for humankind's sake. This element of sustainable exploitation, getting the most out of natural assets, is visible in the French approach to water resources.