Responding to change -- The decision context -- A brief philosophy of adaptive ecosystem management -- Contesting sustainability : who will own the word? -- Introducing and grounding a procedural approach -- Heuristic proceduralism : a general method -- Tools of the adaptive trade --...

Admonitions to decision makers to "act sustainably" founder on conceptual ambiguities that transcend disciplinary boundaries and affect the definition and assessment of sustainability. In this article we address these underlying theoretical difficulties, paying special attention to two clusters...