Social and political mechanisms for establishing ecosystem management objectives

While social values guide the objectives of ecosystem management, successful execution requires a public well-informed on the consequences of alternative decision options. Daniels advocates a group-learning process entitled collaborative learning to achieve this understanding. Agency personnel should assume the roles of educators, facilitators, and managers. The agencies must also open up, meditate, and share decision-making power with the public while avoiding advocacy of any particular interest-group\u27s desires. Policy makers have a role in influencing social values by fostering a nonadversarial politics of cooperation and consensus building