Holistic Management

 

Holistic Management is a decision-making framework for managing complexity with a primary focus on agricultural systems and landscapes. It developed over 50 years ago through the work of Allan Savory, a biologist and former game ranger in Zimbabwe.

Savory realised that land degradation and desertification were not caused by an excess of grazing animals, but instead by changes in their herding behaviour away from their natural patterns. This challenged the common belief that removing livestock would restore degraded landscapes.

Realising that nature is made up of integrated ‘wholes’ and that all things are connected, Savory undertook to show that:

  • the wellbeing of people, communities, and economies is inextricably linked to the health of the land they depend on, hence the need for a holistic approach, and

  • livestock grazing managed proactively to mimic wild herbivores’ natural behaviour can increase soil fertility, water infiltration and retention, biodiversity and overall land productivity - while still producing food and fibre.

Adopted by farmers all over the world, Holistic Management has since been implemented under a wide range of climatic and soil conditions on all continents. It considers the whole context of the farm, including economic, social and environmental factors as well as personal goals. It involves planning and decision-making processes aimed at sustaining the health and functions of ecosystems, resulting in resilient, thriving businesses, families, and communities.

Overall, Holistic Management has demonstrated its ability to regenerate landscapes while enabling farmers to achieve the quality of life and wellbeing they desire.

Holistic Context

In Holistic Management, a holistic context refers to the whole situation or environment that a land manager or decision-maker needs to consider. It includes all the relevant factors, both on and off the land, that influence or are influenced by the management decisions.

The holistic context has four key inseparable parts, outlined in this section.

By considering this entire holistic context, managers can make decisions that balance and harmonise the environmental, social, economic and personal dimensions. The idea is that all these elements are intricately linked, so addressing issues in just one part is ineffective. A holistic approach looks at how they inter-relate as a whole.

The holistic context provides the complete picture a manager needs to work towards sustainable, regenerative land management while meeting their desired quality of life.

  • The natural resources like soil, water, plants, animals and their interactions.

  • The people involved - the land stewards, their families, employees, neighbors and local communities.

  • The money that comes in and goes out related to the land-based activities and enterprises.

  • The values, vision and goals of the decision-makers themselves - what they care about and want to achieve.

Ecosystem Processes

The land being managed is broadly defined as a whole and considered holistically through the lens of four key ecosystem processes:

  • the water cycle

  • the mineral cycle

  • energy flow

  • community dynamics.

These four processes are fundamentally interlinked and interdependent. Holistic management recognises that sustainably managing land requires considering and harmonising all four together as an integrated whole, rather than addressing any one in isolation.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Holistic Management uses an ongoing science-based monitoring and evaluation framework called Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV).

EOV assesses changes in ecosystem health, functionality, and productivity over time by examining multiple leading and lagging indicators including soil health, water retention, biodiversity, and vegetation cover. It is a qualitative and quantitative approach that measures the effectiveness of land management practices to assist land managers in achieving better informed decisions.

Education & Extension

The following videos provide some of the context for Holistic Management. The first is a TED talk by Allan Savory, and the second is an overview video of Carbon Sync’s Holistic Management training.