Adaptive Harvest Management

Adaptive harvest management is a methodology used in natural resources and environmental management. It is based on the concept of adaptive management, which evolved in the 1970s because geographers and other scientists realized that conventional resource management could not guarantee that species were used sustainably. Emphasizing that human activities ultimately affect resource sustainability, adaptive management evaluates the additional social factors that affect how humans use their resources rather than simply managing the nonhuman resources.

Adaptive approaches conceptualize management as a learning process that is either inherent in data analysis or part of a less formal but, nevertheless, rational and structured decision process. The approach is a relatively recent methodological innovation and, despite its limitations, can facilitate faster and less expensive problem solving.