ESSA Technologies Ltd services

Adaptive Management (AM) is systematic, practical approach to improving resource management policies and practices. It provides a structured process for learning which management actions best meet management objectives, and for reducing resource management uncertainty. In its most effective form, an experimental approach is used to test clearly formulated hypotheses about important, but uncertain, components of a system.

Natural resource management and decision making require tools to assess the trade-offs between alternative choices. Our Ecological Modelling team has many years of experience in the design, development, and application of models and environmental information systems in the areas of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem management. Many of these models are designed using the approach and methods of Adaptive Management. As the success of a resource management model is defined by its actual use, we work closely with our clients during all stages of model development and implementation.

Restoration of degraded or destroyed ecosystems requires reestablishing fundamental ecosystem processes using effective and efficient approaches. Undertaking ecosystem restoration involves answering integral questions such as what restoration approaches should be employed, and where and how should those approaches be implemented? ESSA has a long history of developing and facilitating collaborative restoration efforts, and designing decision support tools to inform ecosystem restoration planning.

Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) services – the art and science of evaluating the impacts of human activities – is continually evolving. ESIA represents a core area of ESSA’s business; we have been leaders in developing and applying best practices for some 35 years. We combine years of experience, a participatory approach, and leading–edge analytical and research methods to meet the entire spectrum of clients’ needs.

Environmental (or ecological) flows refer to the quality, quantity, timing, and shape of flow regimes that support ecosystem functions, processes and resilience. The natural flow paradigm treats flow as the “master variable” needed to drive natural variation of hydrologic regimes to protect native biodiversity and the evolutionary potential of aquatic and riparian ecosystems.

Senior decision-makers and environmental managers are faced with enormous challenges as they address existing pollution problems and attempt to protect the environment from the stresses of urban, industrial, and rural development. With 35 years of global experience, ESSA understands these challenges and has become renowned for designing creative solutions and approaches to environmental problems associated with development and resource depletion.

ESSA offers professional facilitation services for sound and collaborative resolution of environmental challenges. We help single and multi-party groups in many different ways: designing and managing mediation processes aimed at environmental consensus building, negotiating environmental management partnerships, designing and convening policy dialogues and round tables, building institutional capacity for management and co-management of natural resources, joint fact-finding, cooperative research design, and ecological modelling to facilitate stakeholder understanding of science-intensive debates.