BIODIVERSITY AS AN ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE IN AGROECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT -CASE-STUDIES OF HOLISTIC RESOURCE-MANAGEMENT PRACTITIONERS IN THE USA

Holistic Resource Management (HRM) is a process of goal setting, decis ion making and monitoring which integrates social, ecological and econ omic factors. Biodiversity enhancement is a fundamental principle in H RM and students are taught that biodiversity is the foundation of sust ainable profit. In the HRM process, practitioners develop a holistic g oal which includes: (1) quality of life values, (2) forms of productio n to support those values, and (3) landscape planning, which should pr otect and enhance biodiversity and support ecosystem processes of succ ession, energy flow, hydrological and nutrient cycling, We present an overview of the HRM model and results of interviews with 25 HRM farmer s and ranchers from across the USA in which perceptions and experience s with respect to the role of biodiversity in the sustainability of th eir operations were explored. An ethnographic approach and qualitative research methods were used in the interviews. While only 9% of the in terviewees reported thinking about biodiversity in the context of thei r operations before being exposed to HRM, now all of them think biodiv ersity is important to the sustainability of their farms and ranches. Of the people interviewed, 95% perceived increases in biodiversity (pa rticularly with respect to plants) and 80% perceived increase in profi ts from their land since HRM began influencing their decisions. In add ition to perceiving increases in biodiversity, all of the interviewees reported observing indications of positive changes in some of the eco system processes on their farms or ranches. In addition, 91% of the in terviewees reported improvements in their quality of life because of c hanges in their time budgets. Three of the interviewees who had quanti tative data on changes in numbers of plant species and economic indica tors are discussed in detail. We conclude that holistic management app roaches like HRM are worthy of further study. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.