Our forests, farms and other natural resources are critical to the health of our environment, economy and communities. In many instances we exploit them instead of managing these resources holistically by balancing the values important to our society and our earth. Many times this is because of a short-term, maximum profit perspective that may serve well initially, but become a burden later, particularly as global markets come into play and shortages begin to arise from this type management. Other times, managers simply don't know how to approach sustainable management of these resources using a balanced approach even when they desire to remain in business for generations. The results of these business as usual practices are reduced yields and quality of products over time, loss of habitat and biodiversity, significant negative impacts on ecosystem services such as water and air quality, increased social conflict, potential negative reputational impacts and loss of markets or access to new markets, just to name a few.

All people and countries must have the ability and desire to develop economically while ensuring environmental and social protections in a sustainable and long lasting manner. Natural resources and farms are one of our most valuable commodities and can be either renewable or non-renewable, managed well or poorly managed. If managed well, renewable resources should provide roughly the same quantity and quality of tangible and intangible values over any given period of time. If non-renewable resources are managed well it means taking an approach that protects and restores the environmental values inherent in the site while achieving the business and resource use objectives. That is what sustainable development strives to achieve.

High conservation values (HCV) are biological, ecological, social or cultural values that are considered to be outstandingly significant or critically important at local, national, regional or global levels. All natural ecosystems and many human produced habitats possess some inherent conservation values, including the presence of rare or endemic species, provision of ecosystem services, sacred or cultural sites or resources that local communities rely on for income and subsistence. Sustainable management requires the identification and management of these values so that they are protected and enhanced for the greater good.

As populations increase and development expands, more pressures are placed on our natural resources and our companies and organizations to provide more products, maintain ecosystem services, and promote social stability and development while protecting the rights of individuals and communities. Human/wildlife conflict become more pronounced as our communities move into and develop what was previously natural habitats, while human/human conflict such as indigenous community rights, tenure and other social and environmental issues can also become a major challenge relating to natural resource management. In today's social media world, these issues are easily brought to the attention of many and can become not just a local problem, but a national, regional and global issue as well.

Business and development must obtain a reasonable profit and have access to markets to sell their products in order to be successful. Sustainable natural resource management has both tangible and intangible real costs that must be recovered from consumers to ensure a continuing supply of quality goods in similar quantities on a consistent basis. Major global corporate buyers are beginning to demand more of suppliers to ensure their operations provide environmental and social protections within their management systems to reduce the reputational risks. This is a phenomenon that eventually becomes established at the national and local market levels as well, such that risk and supply chain management becomes a necessity. Certification and verification of performance on the ground and throughout the supply chain to ensure sustainability is fast becoming a requirement for doing business in today's society.

Is your company or organization vision based on remaining in business for decades and centuries rather than just a few years? Do you have effective systems in place to ensure long-term production over time in ways that protects reputation, supply and profit? Are major environmental issues such as climate change, wildlife extinction, cultural identity and conflict free work environment important to you? Are you and your company or organization one that proactively works to be part of the solutions instead of the problem? If so, APCS can help you to balance economic, social and environmental management to make the transition from” business as usual” to becoming an industry leader and recognized for sustainable practices.