Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process for Decision-Making in Ecosystem Management

摘要

Many decision-making situations involve preferential selection among some finite211u001eset of alternative items or events or courses of action. For a land manager, the 211u001elist of alternatives might contain possible timber harvest levels, inventory and 211u001emonitoring activities, or watershed analyses. Under ideal circumstances, there 211u001emight be some intuitive measurement scale (e.g., cost) that a manager could use 211u001eto compare competing alternatives. The best choice among the available 211u001ealternatives then would have a high (or low, for cost) score along that scale. By 211u001eranking alternatives on the basis of numerical scores, we create an implied 211u001epriority for those alternatives. When the selection criterion is least cost for 211u001eexample, the measurement scale is obvious and choosing among the alternatives is 211u001eeasy. In most real-world situations, however, there is often no single, simple 211u001escale for measuring all competing alternatives. More often, there are at least 211u001eseveral scales that must be used and often those scales are related to one 211u001eanother in fairly complex ways. In broad-scale, participatory decision-making, 211u001ealternative courses of action arise from different stakeholders with different 211u001evalue systems, and yet this diversity must be accommodated and integrated. The 211u001eanalytic hierarchy process (AHP) is relevant to nearly any ecosystem management 211u001eapplication that requires multiple opinions, multiple participants, or a complex, 211u001edecision-making process. Considering the complexity of most ecosystem management 211u001eissues and compliance regulations, the AHP could extend to a wide array of 211u001emanagerial and planning tasks. For example, management and planning for a large 211u001ewatershed may include issues related to water quality and quantity, forest 211u001emanagement, wildlife management, and recreation. Input is required from subject 211u001ematter experts in each of these disciplines in order to establish priorities and 211u001emake informed decisions regarding spatial and temporal distributions of 211u001eresources. Because watersheds generally involve the flow of materials between 211u001epublic and private lands, additional input is often needed on social, legal, and 211u001epolitical aspects of resource condition and value.