The operations manual can be of use in most terrestrial environments of the world. Its purpose is to include ecosystem management in sustainable development planning and implementation at the site and landscape levels. The manual supports planning to provide multiple ecosystem services for local people and wider society. This approach is central to it and is a practical method for understanding and working with the environment as an ecosystem.

It contains simple and practical descriptions of current and desired ecosystem functioning. The manual’s approach helps analyse and address natural resource management problems such as reduced water supply, declining species, and the spread of invasive species. It also helps to identify options for increased ecosystem resilience to climate change.

At a training organized to introduce the manual and its use, a participant from the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department said, “I now see the forest as an ecosystem, not just as timber, and can use this in planning management with local communities”.

For more information and training on the use of the manual, please contact Yi Shaoliang, Yi.Shaoliang@icimod.org and Philip Bubb philip.bubb@unep-wcmc.org

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