The concept of the Ecosystem Approach to management (EA) has been around for at least 30 years and has been extensively discussed, elaborated and developed. The EA was adopted as an overarching principle and approach by Arctic Council Ministers in 2004 as part of the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan (AMSP) and described in the following manner:

“An integrated ecosystem-based management approach requires that development activities be coordinated in a way that minimizes their impact on the environment and integrates thinking across environmental, socioeconomic, political and sectoral realms. The management of resource activities needs to be focused on realistic, practical steps that are directed toward reducing environmental damage, protecting biodiversity and promoting the health and prosperity of local communities. For such an approach to be successful, the relevant ecosystems need to be better understood, monitored and reported on. Actions must be based on clear objectives and a sound management structure, employing best available knowledge and practices, integrated decision-making and, where appropriate, a coordinated, regional approach.”

All the eight Arctic States have agreed to one or more of the following global agreements and resolutions that call for ecosystem‐based management or ecosystem approaches:

• The World Summit on Sustainable Development Plan of Implementation (2002) calls for States to undertake marine ecosystem based management by 2010;
• The 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement, which calls on States to assess and manage the effects of fishing and other activities on ecosystems;
• The Convention on Biological Diversity, which adopted the ecosystem approach as a framework for the analysis and implementation of the objectives of the CBD;
• Numerous United Nations resolutions on sustainable fisheries and oceans which refer to the need for ecosystem approaches.

Human activities in the Arctic are increasing, and planning and management of these activities on a cross-sectoral basis can assist in reducing conflict among activities and in supporting the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. PAME continues to advance the work towards implementation of the EA by taking into account the previous work on the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and other relevant Arctic Council work such as the summary of Observed Best Practices for Ecosystem-based Ocean Management (as a part of the 2009 Best Practices in Ecosystem Based Oceans Management in the Arctic (BePOMAR)) where best practices from planning and implementation of the EA in national ocean management policies were reviewed. BePOMAR identified several core elements that are essential when applying the EA and drew 6 general conclusions from the review of practices.

We are now past the stage where we discuss what it is and what it means and we are dealing with the next stage: how do we implement it in practice, in the real world.