About Holistic Management | Inside Outside Management

What is Holistic Management?

Holistic Management is a decision-making framework that ensures our decisions are environmentally, economically, and socially sound i.e. the triple bottom line.

It enables us to develop a clear vision of the future we want.

Applicable to all organisations and individuals, it equips us to understand the complex ‘whole’ we manage, making decisions with outcomes that regenerate our environment.

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Holistic Management is essentially a decision-making process.

The natural world is comprised of complex and interconnected living systems – land, animals, people, plants, fungi, and more. Holistic Management equips us to understand the “whole” we are managing and make decisions that give regenerative outcomes.

Holistic Management has its roots in environmental management. But, as it is essentially a decision-making process, it is applicable to people in all walks of life - households, both rural and urban-based businesses, government, and educational organisations. Holistic Management equips us to understand the “whole” we are managing. Once we understand that we are part of our environment we can use the decision-making framework to manage amidst complex living systems. By changing how we make decisions we can overcome many of the problems we face today.

"Ultimately, the only wealth that can sustain any community, economy or nation is derived from the photosynthetic process - green plants growing on regenerating soil." - Allan Savory

A History of Holistic Management®

Allan Savory, ecologist, biologist, game warden, farmer, soldier, politician, renowned environmentalist and winner of the Banksia International Award 2003, and the 2010 Buckminster Fuller environmental award is the founder of Holistic Management.

As a young graduate employed in various Southern African national parks in the 1960's, Allan realised that the land and wildlife he was working with was doomed.

Later, when working in the USA he came to realise that this deterioration of the African environment was not a result of the often-quoted reasons of overpopulation, poverty, overstocking, lack of technology, poor extension services etc. Comparable deterioration was occurring in Western Texas, USA, where the climate was similar to that of Southern Africa. However, western Texas had a declining population, the latest technology, sophisticated extension services etc.

The only common denominator between these two situations was the decisions the human managers of these environments had made. Mankind has been very successful in the area of technology, but, when it comes to making decisions that are environmentally and socially sound, our failures outweigh our successes.

Allan noted this. He studied wild animals in different habitats and read the works of Jan Smuts, Andre Voisin and others. Allan realised that hooved animals play a critical role in the health of arid environments. He recognised that nature functions in wholes and that we need to change the way we make decisions.

All this led to the development of the Holistic Management decision-making framework, as we know it today, which is being used by thousands of individuals, families, businesses and other organisations to improve the quality of lives and to regenerate the resource base that sustains us. This includes many conservation projects worldwide, where large areas of land are being transformed into sustainable ecosystems.

"The technology we wield today has greatly expanded the ways in which we can alter our environment and that, combined with the exponential increase in our numbers, has magnified our potential for causing damage. Now, more than ever, we require the ability to make decisions that consider economic, social and environmental realities, both short and long term." - Allan Savory

What benefits can Holistic Management bring you?

Build a solid foundation for Regenerative Agriculture
Make decisions that are simultaneously socially, environmentally and financially sound
Be driven by your vision
Gain a solid understanding of the holistic nature of our environment
Learn how to utilise animals as a positive tool to improve environmental health.
Improve landscape diversity above and below the soil surface
Build the landscape’s resilience to manage drought and flood
Improve soil fertility
Understand how ecosystems function - work with nature not against it
Improve profitability

The Australian Holistic Management Co-op

A Hub of the Savory Institute, the Australian Holistic Management Co-op manages the Savory Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) in Australia. Ecological Outcome Verification is awarded to land following a scientific, robust monitoring process to demonstrate positive trends in the areas of soil health, biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Brian Wehlburg is a Director of the Australian Holistic Management Co-op

Where to next?

We are passionate about what Holistic Management can help you achieve for yourself, your business and your land. Contact us below.

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Allan Savory TED Talk

Allan Savory reviews the devastating effects of desertification on the earth and our civilizations and the consistent failure of current approaches to stop desertification. He shows dramatic examples of how livestock are the best (and only) tool that can permanently reverse these processes

Textbook

Allan Savory has encapsulated his thinking in his book, Holistic Management: A Commonsense Revolution' co-written by Jody Butterfield
Contact us to get yourself a copy.

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