Contribution of low impact development practices-bioretention systems towards urban flood resilience: case study of Novi Sad, Serbia

Bioretention systems are globally the most accepted Low Impact Development (LID) practices. In this study, we simulated bioretention performances for four locations in the city of Novi Sad, with RECARGA modelling software. The primary objective of the research was to evaluate potential of bioretention systems for runoff reduction. The second research objective was to suggest RECARGA model as a support for future decision-making processes. Analysis of the sensitivity of bioretention design parameters on bioretention performances, involved variations related to different sizes of bioretention systems, application of an underdrain, the difference in soil texture and changes in the depth of each individual bioretention layer. The total average volume of retained runoff by bioretention systems ranged from 43.33 to 93.84%, while some single simulation results were 100%. Among all tested design parameters, bioretention size and the native soil hydraulic conductivity have shown the greatest influence on the runoff reduction rate. This study provides information about the developing a site-specific bioretention solutions needed to prevent urban flooding in the area of research where this systems are still not sufficiently applied in practice. The obtained methodology can be applied for other locations and also it can be extended to other cities with similar urban flooding problems

A framework for defining weights of decision makers in group decision-making, using consistency between different multicriteria weighting methods

Most forest operations are complex problems that require the weights of relevant criteria - representing trade-offs between various economic, ecological, and social aspects of the problem - to be defined. Usually this is done by using multicriteria weighting method(s) in a group (participatory) context in order to include different opinions and to minimize risk of poor individual judgments. Furthermore, in group decision-making, the weights of decision makers (DMs) must be defined. However, no consensus exists on the best way to determine related weights assigned to DMs. For that purpose, we propose the consistency-based group decision-making framework (CGDF), which uses the expertise of a DM to weight the responses of the DM when deriving an overall group decision. The novel part of CGDF is the inter-weights consistency method (ICM) for evaluating the expertise of a DM based on the consistency of the weights the DM assigns to different criteria using different multicriteria weighting methods. We demonstrate the utility of ICM and CGDF by applying them to a decision-making problem from Swedish forest operations - defining weights of criteria relevant for designing the machine-trail network for driving in the forest terrain

Combining behavioural TOPSIS and six multi-criteria weighting methods to rank biomass fuel pellets for energy use in Sweden

EU energy and climate policies continue to drive interest in biomass fuel pellets which can be produced from a wide variety of feedstock. The use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to support feedstock selection has the potential for more transparent and better decision-making. This study applies the behavioural TOPSIS, a prominent MCDA technique, to rank pellets for energy use in Sweden produced from under-utilised forest and agricultural biomass. Seven criteria were used to assess and rank the biomass pellets. The alternatives include 88 types of pellets from 11 biomass materials. Possible attitudes of an expert towards the risk of losses (risk averse, risk neutral and risk-seeking) were combined with six sets of criteria weights obtained using six weighting methods – a total of 18 input settings (scenarios). Despite having different input settings, almost identical results were obtained in all scenarios, meaning that the rankings were stable and consistent. Across all 18 scenarios, pellets produced from a reference spruce/pine sawdust blend are ranked ahead of other pellet types. Pellets produced from Scots pine bark exhibited stable and consistent rankings across all scenarios; and thus this biomass is the second-best overall. The next best materials overall are poplar, reed canary grass and wheat straw, whereas torrefied pellets (torrefied beech, poplar and wheat straw) were ranked last in all scenarios. Combining behavioural TOPSIS and a variety of criteria-weighting methods is a meaningful way of improving decision-making with respect to producing a more valid and reliable ranking of biomass fuel pellets for energy use in Sweden

Analysis of decision-making processes for strategic technology investments in Swedish large-scale forestry

Technological development gives forest companies opportunities to maintain competitiveness in the highly cost-sensitive market for forest products. However, no previous studies have examined the technological development decisions made by forest companies or the support tools used when making them. We therefore aimed to describe and analyze 1) the processes used when making such decisions, 2) the associated decision situations, and 3) the use of and need for decision sup-port tools in these processes, with a harwarder concept as case. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with respondents from six forestry organizations. Two theoretical frameworks were used to analyze the interviews, one for unstructured decision processes and one for decision situations. The respondents' descriptions of their decision processes were consistent with those observed in other industries, and it was shown that decision-making could potentially be improved by invest-ing more resources into diagnosing the problem at hand. The main objective in decision-making was to maximize economic criteria while satisfying threshold requirements relating to criteria such as operator well-being, soil rutting, and wood value. When facing large uncertainties, inter-viewees preferred to gather data through operational trials and/or scientific studies. If confronted with large uncertainties that could not be reduced, they proceeded with development only if the potential gains exceeded the estimated uncertainties, and implemented innovations in a stepwise manner. These results indicate a need for greater use of existing decision-support tools such as problem-structuring methods to enable more precise diagnoses, simulations to better understand new innovations, and optimization to better evaluate their theoretical large-scale potential

PESFOR-W: Improving the design and environmental effectiveness of woodlands for water Payments for Ecosystem Services

ABSTRACT: The EU Water Framework Directive aims to ensure restoration of Europe?s water bodies to ?good ecological status? by 2027. Many Member States will struggle to meet this target, with around half of EU river catchments currently reporting below standard water quality. Diffuse pollution from agriculture represents a major pressure, affecting over 90% of river basins. Accumulating evidence shows that recent improvements to agricultural practices are benefiting water quality but in many cases will be insufficient to achieve WFD objectives. There is growing support for land use change to help bridge the gap, with a particular focus on targeted tree planting to intercept and reduce the delivery of diffuse pollutants to water. This form of integrated catchment management offers multiple benefits to society but a significant cost to landowners and managers. New economic instruments, in combination with spatial targeting, need to be developed to ensure cost effective solutions - including tree planting for water benefits - are realised. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are flexible, incentive-based mechanisms that could play an important role in promoting land use change to deliver water quality targets. The PESFOR-W COST Action will consolidate learning from existing woodlands for water PES schemes in Europe and help standardize approaches to evaluating the environmental effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of woodland measures. It will also create a European network through which PES schemes can be facilitated, extended and improved, for example by incorporating other ecosystem services linking with aims of the wider forestscarbon policy nexus

First-Level Transitivity Rule Method for Filling in Incomplete Pair-Wise Comparison Matrices in the Analytic Hierarchy Process

The paper discusses the problem of performing the prioritization of decision elements within the multicriteria optimization method, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), with incomplete information. An approach is proposed on how to fill in the gap in the pair-wise comparison matrix generated within an AHP standard procedure; that is, to reproduce one missing judgment of the decision maker while assuring the reproduced judgment belongs to the same ratio scale used while other judgments are elicited. The first-level transitivity rule (FLTR) approach is proposed based on screening matrix entries in the neighborhood of a missing one. Scaling (where necessary) and geometric averaging of screened entries allows filling of the gap in the matrix and later prioritization of involved decision elements by the eigenvector, or any other known method. Illustrative examples are provided to compare the proposed method with the other two known methods also aimed to fill-in gaps in AHP matrices. The results indicate some similarities in attaining consistency. However, unlike other methods, the FLTR assures coherency of the generating process in a sense that all numeric values in a matrix (original entries, plus one generated) come from the same ratio scale and have correct element-wise semantic equivalents

First-Level Transitivity Rule Method for Filling in Incomplete Pair-Wise Comparison Matrices in the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract: The paper discusses the problem of performing the prioritization of decision elements within the multicriteria optimization method, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), with incomplete information. An approach is proposed on how to fill in the gap in the pair-wise comparison matrix generated within an AHP standard procedure; that is, to reproduce one missing judgment of the decision maker while assuring the reproduced judgment belongs to the same ratio scale used while other judgments are elicited. The first-level transitivity rule (FLTR) approach is proposed based on screening matrix entries in the neighborhood of a missing one. Scaling (where necessary) and geometric averaging of screened entries allows filling of the gap in the matrix and later prioritization of involved decision elements by the eigenvector, or any other known method. Illustrative examples are provided to compare the proposed method with the other two known methods also aimed to fill-in gaps in AHP matrices. The results indicate some similarities in attaining consistency. However, unlike other methods, the FLTR assures coherency of the generating process in a sense that all numeric values in a matrix (original entries, plus one generated) come from the same ratio scale and have correct element-wise semantic equivalents

Defining Spatial Priorities for Irrigation Development Using the Soil Conservation and Water Use Efficiency Criteria

This paper presents a methodology for defining spatial priorities for irrigation development in Vojvodina Province (Serbia). The purpose of the methodology is to take into account several UN Sustainable Development Goals and to try to minimize land degradation, while maximizing water use efficiency. In the first step, areas that can be irrigated over long-term periods with minimal risk of soil degradation were selected in the geographic information system (GIS) environment. Then, three experts used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to define the weights of four criteria related to water use efficiency. After that, the consensus model was used to obtain group weights of the criteria. These criteria were standardized and presented as GIS layers. Finally, cell values in all the layers were multiplied by corresponding consensus weights of the criteria. The weighted layers are summarized in the final map representing spatial priorities for irrigation development