Conflicting Objectives in Decisions

This book deals with quantitative approaches in making decisions when conflicting objectives are present. This problem is central to many applications of decision analysis, policy analysis, operational research, etc. in a wide range of fields, for example, business, economics, engineering, psychology, and planning. The book surveys different approaches to the same problem area and each approach is discussed in considerable detail so that the coverage of the book is both broad and deep. The problem of conflicting objectives is of paramount importance, both in planned and market economies, and this book represents a cross-cultural mixture of approaches from many countries to the same class of problem

State-of-the-Art Report on Systems Analysis Methods for Resolution of Conflicts in Water Resources Management

Water is an important factor in conflicts among stakeholders at the local, regional, and even international level. Water conflicts have taken many forms, but they almost always arise from the fact that the freshwater resources of the world are not partitioned to match the political borders, nor are they evenly distributed in space and time. Two or more countries share the watersheds of 261 major rivers and nearly half of the land area of the wo rld is in international river basins. Water has been used as a military and political goal. Water has been a weapon of war. Water systems have been targets during the war. A role of systems approach has been investigated in this report as an approach for resolution of conflicts over water. A review of systems approach provides some basic knowledge of tools and techniques as they apply to water management and conflict resolution. Report provides a classification and description of water conflicts by addressing issues of scale, integrated water management and the role of stakeholders. Four large-scale examples are selected to illustrate the application of systems approach to water conflicts: (a) hydropower development in Canada; (b) multipurpose use of Danube river in Europe; (c) international water conflict between USA and Canada; and (d) Aral See in Asia. Water conflict resolution process involves various sources of uncertainty. One section of the report provides some examples of systems tools that can be used to address objective and subjective uncertainties with special emphasis on the utility of the fuzzy set theory. Systems analysis is known to be driven by the development of computer technology. Last section of the report provides one view of the future and systems tools that will be used for water resources management. Role of the virtual databases, computer and communication networks is investigated in the context of water conflicts and their resolution.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrrr/1005/thumbnail.jp

The use of multi-criteria analysis in the recovery of abandoned mines: a study of intervention in Portugal

Considering that the budget for the recovery of abandoned mining zones is limited, it was necessary to develop a model that would make it possible to choose which mines should be targeted for intervention, taking into account the various factors by which their external effects may be assessed (the environment, public health, the landscape and their usefulness to industrial archaeology). A multi-criteria analysis using the analytic hierarchy process, in which each major factor, result, and mine are compared, was employed to generate an innovative assessment model that guaranteed that the overall value of the intervention was maximised, compared to two other methods (intervention ranked by the greatest overall severity and ranked by the cost–benefit ratio). The results indicate an economically and socially viable and efficient choice, making it possible to undertake new similar studies. © 2018 Departamento de Administrac¸ao, Faculdade de Economia, Administrac ˜ ¸ao e Contabilidade da Universidade de S ˜ ao Paulo – FEA/USP. ˜ Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

The use of multi-criteria analysis in the recovery of abandoned mines: a study of intervention in Portugal

Tendo em consideração a existência de uma limitação orçamentária que inviabilizava a recuperação de todas as áreas mineiras abandonadas, foi necessário desenvolver um modelo que permitisse escolher quais as minas que seriam objeto de intervenção, tendo em consideração os diferentes fatores de avaliação de seus efeitos externos (no ambiente, na saúde pública, na paisagem e no seu aproveitamento para a arqueologia industrial). A partir de uma análise multicritério (utilizando o Analytical Hierarchy Process - AHP), onde cada fator preponderante, resultado e mina foram comparados, gerou-se um modelo inovador de avaliação onde se garantiu a maximização do valor global da intervenção, em comparação a outros dois métodos (intervenção ordenada pela maior gravidade global e pela relação custo-benefício). Os resultados apontam para uma escolha econ×mica e socialmente viável e eficiente, permitindo instigar novos estudos análogos.Considering that the budget for the recovery of abandoned mining zones is limited, it was necessary to develop a model that would make it possible to choose which mines should be targeted for intervention, taking into account the various factors by which their external effects may be assessed (the environment, public health, the landscape and their usefulness to industrial archaeology). A multi-criteria analysis using the analytic hierarchy process, in which each major factor, result, and mine are compared, was employed to generate an innovative assessment model that guaranteed that the overall value of the intervention was maximised, compared to two other methods (intervention ranked by the greatest overall severity and ranked by the cost-benefit ratio). The results indicate an economically and socially viable and efficient choice, making it possible to undertake new similar studies

Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process to Oil Sands Environmental Compliance Risk Management

Oil companies in Alberta, Canada, invested $32 billion on new oil sands projects in 2013. Despite the size of this investment, there is a demonstrable deficiency in the uniformity and understanding of environmental legislation requirements that manifest into increased project compliance risks. This descriptive study developed 2 prioritized lists of environmental regulatory compliance risks and mitigation strategies and used multi-criteria decision theory for its theoretical framework. Information from compiled lists of environmental compliance risks and mitigation strategies was used to generate a specialized pairwise survey, which was piloted by 5 subject matter experts (SMEs). The survey was validated by a sample of 16 SMEs, after which the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to rank a total of 33 compliance risks and 12 mitigation strategy criteria. A key finding was that the AHP is a suitable tool for ranking of compliance risks and mitigation strategies. Several working hypotheses were also tested regarding how SMEs prioritized 1 compliance risk or mitigation strategy compared to another. The AHP showed that regulatory compliance, company reputation, environmental compliance, and economics ranked the highest and that a multi criteria mitigation strategy for environmental compliance ranked the highest. The study results will inform Alberta oil sands industry leaders about the ranking and utility of specific compliance risks and mitigations strategies, enabling them to focus on actions that will generate legislative and public trust. Oil sands leaders implementing a risk management program using the risks and mitigation strategies identified in this study will contribute to environmental conservation, economic growth, and positive social change

Evaluation of Ecosystem Services production under different Agricultural Policy Scenarios

The objective of this study is to test a methodology for the classification of areas according to the provision of ecosystem services (ES) and for the evaluation of the effects of different agricultural policy scenarios on such classification. The framework was applied to the classification of the 26 municipalities of the province of Ferrara, Italy. The case study area can be considered a traditional cultural landscape, characterised by historical-cultural sites, agricultural areas and protected areas of natural importance. The evaluation focuses on the different categories of ES and applies a set of indicators available from secondary data sources assessing different aspects of ES. From the policy perspective, the context was represented by the pre-2014 CAP and represented the Baseline scenario. In the next stage, the model simulated a New CAP scenario, based on the measures of the RDP 2014-2020 that are addressed on restoring and enhancing ecosystems. The classification approach in each of the two scenarios was implemented under two weighting solutions. As a general remark, it is observed that the provision of ES varies greatly from one municipality to the next. All the municipalities offer a significant number of provisioning and cultural services, mainly connected to recreational opportunities. From the experience carried out in this study, we can conclude that the application of the PROMETHEE, in particular with the integration of the weights for the ES indicators, has shown the potential to support the characterisation of agricultural land in terms of the provision of multiple ES. The study presents MCDA as a suitable tool to illustrate the differences in the provision of ES in different case study areas. To some extent, in spite of the limitations of this work, this also applies to analyzing the consequences of different agricultural policy scenarios in the provision of these services

Human Dimensions of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: An Overview of Context, Concepts, Tools and Methods

This document aims to provide a better understanding of the role of the economic, institutional and sociocultural components within the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) process and to examine some potential methods and approaches that may facilitate the adoption of EAF management. It explores both the human context for the ecosystem approach to fisheries and the human dimensions involved in implementing the EAF. For the former, the report provides background material essential to understand prior to embarking on EAF initiatives, including an understanding of key concepts and issues, of the valuation of aquatic ecosystems socially, culturally and economically, and of the many policy, legal, institutional, social and economic considerations relevant to the EAF. With respect to facilitating EAF implementation, the report deals with a series of specific aspects: (1) determining the boundaries, scale and scope of the EAF; (2) assessing the various benefits and costs involved, seen from social, economic, ecological and management perspectives; (3) utilizing appropriate decision-making tools in EAF; (4) creating and/or adopting internal incentives and institutional arrangements to promote, facilitate and fund the adoption of EAF management; and (5) finding suitable external (non-fisheries) approaches for financing EAF implementation

INTEGRATED MODELING OF LAND USE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON MULTISCALE ECOSYSTEMS OF CENTRAL AFRICAN WATERSHEDS

Assessment and management of ecosystem services demands diverse knowledge of the system components. Land use change occurring mainly through deforestation, expansion of agriculture and unregulated extraction of natural resources are the greatest challenges of the Congo basin and yet is central to supporting over 100 million people. This study undertook to implement an integrated modeling of multiscale ecosystems of central African watersheds and model the impact of anthropogenic factors on elephant population in Greater Virunga landscape. The study was conducted at varied scales, regional, landscape, and community. Regional study included watershed analysis and hydrological assessment using remotely sensed data implemented in Geographical information System. Species distribution modeling using generalized linear models using presence only and pseudo absence data was also done at regional scale. The major findings were that ecosystem services for the Congo basin are spatially varied and there are significant differences in their distribution of ecosystem services at a subwatershed level three and six and the distribution of endangered and threatened species is more concentrated in the central part of the basin and most of these species occur mainly inside protected areas. Poaching and sustained civil wars were the biggest threat to elephant conservation in the region. Improvement in law enforcement, monitoring, and increasing household incomes for communities living adjacent to protected areas would help to reduce the impact of poaching on elephant population dynamics. Climate change did not show immediate direct impacts on the elephant population, but thermal and latent heat effects could be occurring. A change in habitat, however, showed resulted in an upward trend in elephant population for all age classes. The local communities heavily depend on these ecosystem services for their livelihoods. It is therefore recommended that reasonable financing to strengthen law enforcement and monitoring is done, multiple policy options should be considered in order to maximize ecosystem benefits. Creation of partnerships and research networks need to be promoted. Existing transboundary collaboration initiatives should continue and be supported by the donor community in order to build peace and dram support for wildlife and wild habitat protection