​On behalf of ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) UNEP-WCMC produced an Operations Manual to support planning to provide multiple ecosystem services for local people and wider society. 

It presents six steps, and supporting information, for working at individual sites and wider landscapes. Central to its approach is a practical methiod for understanding and working with the environment as an ecosystem. This is achieved through producing simple and practical descriptions of current and desired ecosystem functioning to supply ecosystem services. This also helps to analyse and address natural resource management problems, such as reduced water supplies, declining species, or the spread of invasive species, and to identify options to increase ecosystem resilience to climate change. 

The Manual has primarily been designed to support the ecosystem management work of ICIMOD and its partners in the eight countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), but it is of wider relevance across terrestrial environments of the world.

If you would like more information about the Manual and UNEP-WCMC’s work on this subject please contact Philip Bubb at philip.bubb@unep-wcmc.org