Engage in a public dialog on goals, policies, and trade-offs. Dramatic improvements in ecosystem condition and capacity are possible when governments and non governmental organizations create opportunities to air diverse ideas about ecosystem management. Recognize the value of ecosystem services. Removing subsidies and explicitly pricing ecosystem services can be politically difficult but can promote more efficient resource use. Involve local communities in managing ecosystems.
Local communities are often the most prudent ecosystem managers.
Involving local communities can also yield a more equitable distribution of the benefits and costs of ecosystem use. Reversing the degradation of the world's ecosystems is not simply a technical or scientific matter. It also depends on a diversity of social and ethical factors, and a clear vision of what is to be restored and why. Admittedly, integrating the ethical and moral dimensions into development decisions is difficult. It requires scientists, religious leaders, villagers, politicians, businessmen, government officials and peoples of all faiths to work together to ensure that today's development needs do not compromise our capacity to sustain us into the future.