Adaptive Management

Synonyms

Adaptive resource management

Definition

Adaptive management is a decision-making process centered upon learning from the outcomes of management actions. Information from monitoring and research is systematically incorporated into future decisions to improve the effectiveness of management.

Description

Adaptive management (AM) is recommended when resource management decisions must be made despite significant uncertainty. AM programs collect information about a system while implementing management actions and apply that information to reduce uncertainty and improve future decisions. AM frameworks typically include monitoring, research, and conceptual and numerical modeling to collect and organize knowledge about a system and incorporate it into future decisions (Williams et al., 2009).

Structured decision making is recommended for the development and ongoing operation of AM programs. Structured decision making is a process in which problems, objectives, management alternatives,...