Holistic management
A term that describes systems thinking approach to managing resources that builds biodiversity, improves production, generates financial strength, enhances sustainability, and improves the quality of life for those who use it. Developed by Allan Savory, Holistic Management offers a new decision-making framework that managers in a variety of enterprises, cultures, and countries are using to help ensure that the decisions they take are economically, socially, and environmentally sound, simultaneously—both short and long term. Up to date information may be found at the Savory Institute. The Savory Institute offers information, networking, training, speaking, and consultation services and works with a network of exceptionally qualified Associat Consultants. The African Centre for Holistic Management, a sister organization of the Savory Institute, provides education and research opportunities, and is located at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Free material and information can be accessed from Holistic Management International - a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate people to manage land for a sustainable future, utilizing the principles of Holistic Management. HMI offers a full range of training programs, including Kids on the Land, Gen Next, Beginning Farmers, and Ag Town Turnaround/Future Farms, as well as extensive professional development training for those in the agricultural industry. Holistic Management Certified Educators are an excellent source of training, mentoring and information. Many Certified Educators offer workshops, in-person services, distance learning and technical assistance.
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[edit] Beginnings
The idea of Holistic Management began in the 1960s when Allan Savory, then a young wildlife biologist in his native Southern Rhodesia, set out to solve the riddle of desertification. After successive careers as a farmer, game rancher, management consultant, a member of Parliament and leader of the opposition party in the midst of a civil war, Savory concluded that the spread of deserts, the loss of wildlife, and the human impoverishment that always resulted were related to the way people made decisions, whether or not those people lived or worked on the land.
Exiled as a result of his opposition to the ruling Rhodesian party, Savory immigrated to the United States where he co-founded the Center for Holistic Management with his wife, Jody Butterfield, in 1984. He left that organization in 2009 to form the Savory Institute, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Savory Institute works globally with individuals, government agencies, NGOs and corporations to restore the vast grasslands of the world through the teaching and practice of Holistic Management and Holistic Decision Making. The Institute's Consulting and Training activities are turning deserts into thriving grasslands, restoring biodiversity, bringing streams, rivers and water sources back to life, combating poverty and hunger, and increasing sustainable food production, all while putting an end to global climate change.
In 2009 Holistic Management International celebrated its 25th anniversary, and continues to offer land stewards a comprehensive framework for identifying specific goals; making grazing, land management and financial decisions that positively impact land health and productivity; and performing effective monitoring in ways that specifically further those goals.
[edit] The Holistic Management Framework
At its core, the Holistic Decision Making Framework uses the holistic goal to guide decision making. The holistic goal ties people's desired way of life, based on what they value most deeply (materially and spiritually), to the ecosystems and resources that support their vision. All actions and decisions are tested to determine whether or not they will help reach the established holistic goal. Testing and management guidelines, planning procedures and a feedback loop assure constant monitoring of the success of decisions.
The Holistic Management Framework also considers the key role that animals play in renewing the land, and recognizes the nature and importance of four basic ecosystem processes: the water cycle, the mineral cycle, energy flow, and community dynamics (the relationship between organisms in an ecosystem). The Framework identifies eight tools for managing these ecosystem processes: human creativity, technology, rest, fire, grazing, animal impact, living organisms, and money and labor.
[edit] Holistic Management in Print
In 1999, Savory and Jody Butterfield co-authored, Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making (Island Press). The book describes how Savory discovered workable solutions to today's most pressing environmental problems. These solutions are being implemented worldwide to overcome many of the problems besetting economies, cities, nations, governments, organizations and more.
Additional and up to date printed materials, e-books and more can be found on the Savory Institute website.
Free downloads of printed materials, guides, and charts are available at www.holisticmanagement.org (store).
In 1999, Holistic Management International published At Home with Holistic Management by Ann Adams. In At Home, Adams, a Holistic Management International Certified Educator, explains the Holistic Management process and how it can be used to create a more meaningful life.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Savory, Allan; Jody Butterfield (1998-12-01) [1988] (in English). Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making (2nd ed. ed.). Washington, D.C.: Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-487-1.
Adams, Ann (1998-12-01) [1999] (in English). At Home with Holistic Management (2nd ed. ed.). Albuquerque, NM: Holistic Management International. ISBN 978-0-9673941-0-7.
