ABSTRACT
Integrated ecological and environmental management means that the environmental problems are viewed from a holistic angle considering the ecosystem as an entity and considering the entire spectrum of solutions including all possible combinations of proposed solutions. The integration in this context means that all the available tools and possibilities are taken into account and that all the problems are considered simultaneously. The experience gained from environmental management in the last 40 years has clearly shown that it is important not to consider solutions of single problems but to consider all or at least all major problems associated with a considered ecosystem simultaneously and evaluate all the solution possibilities proposed by the relevant disciplines at the same time or, expressed differently, to observe the forest and not the single trees. The experience has clearly underlined that there is no alternative to an integrated management at least not on a long-term basis. Fortunately, as it will be presented in this chapter, new ecological subdisciplines have emerged and they offer tool boxes to perform an integrated ecological and environmental management.
