Context sensitive policy instruments: A multi-criteria decision analysis for safeguarding forest habitats in Southwestern Finland

Environmental and conservation decisions are often complex, which results in complexity also in policy assessments. Conservation decisions have implications for different stakeholders and typically draw on multidisciplinary knowledge bases, incorporating natural, physical and social sciences, politics and ethics. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a potentially important tool for supporting conservation policy decisions. This article reports a spatially referenced MCDA of policy instrument scenarios for conserving forest biodiversity in Southwestern Finland. The effects of the realistic policy instruments designed in dialogue with stakeholders included voluntary permanent conservation, enforced spatially concentrated permanent conservation, voluntary permanent conservation with active nature management, and voluntary temporary conservation. These instruments were compared by combining forest-owner survey, MCDA and ex ante impact evaluation. The main objective was to find the forest biodiversity conservation instrument that would produce the highest total benefit. The effects of the different instruments were evaluated with ecological, economic, social, and institutional criteria after a 20-year time period. The results showed minor differences between the instruments, with voluntary permanent and voluntary temporary conservation producing the largest total benefit. Despite the small differences, the analysis was robust in showing that voluntary instruments were more favourable than enforced permanent conservation.     

Analysis of the operational performance of brazilian airport terminals: A multicriteria approach with De Borda-AHP integration

ObjectiveThis study proposes a multicriteria approach for the comparative analysis of the operational performance of Brazilian airport terminals.MethodologyTwo multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) methods – De Borda and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) - were applied in an integrated manner to the database of the performance report from the Brazilian Department of Civil Aviation (Secretaria de Aviação Civil – SAC/PR), composed of evaluations issued by 18,062 respondents regarding 15 airport terminals, 12 of which are analyzed in this study considering 8 evaluation criteria. On the first level, the AHP method was used to assign weights to the criteria. On the second level, the De Borda method was applied to rank the alternatives.ResultsThe proposed method resulted in a final ranking of alternatives that was significantly different from the one presented in the SAC/PR report.Contribution to knowledgeThe employment of the integrated De Borda-AHP method is not common and ensured a greater approximation with the overall user satisfaction indicator, showing that it is the more appropriate methodological option when compared with the arithmetic mean commonly used in public reports.Contribution to societyBased on the obtained ranking, air transport users will be able to have a more realistic comparative picture of the main airport terminals analyzed.Contribution to the management of the airport systemThis work contributes to the strategic planning and allocation of investments seeking to adapt and expand the sector, and also to the continuous improvement of the service levels provided at airports.     

基于多目标决策方法的优选模型及其应用研究

在多个备选方案中做选择时,不仅要考虑技术、经济、效益等方面的因素,还要考虑决策者与执行者、理论与现实之间矛盾等方面的影响.针对这一类离散型变量的多目标决策问题,使用ELECTRE II方法,可较好的协调指标间的矛盾,进行方案的优劣排序,为决策者提供合理的建议.     

Creditworthiness evaluation of Italian SMEs at the beginning of the 2007–2008 crisis: An MCDA approach

In this paper we use a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach in order to evaluate the creditworthiness of about 40,000 Italian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) viewed as potential applicants for bank loans in the three-year period 2006–2008, a timespan embracing the beginning phase of the recent economic and financial crisis. This approach is able to consider simultaneously different factors affecting the firms’ solvency level. The results obtained in terms of classification into homogeneous rating classes, scoring and migration probabilities show that the proposed approach is able to unveil early signal of recession in the Italian SMEs sector. Furthermore, some comparisons between our approach and a couple of known methodologies for creditworthiness assessment show the goodness of our method.     

Exploring the environmental value of ecosystem services for a river basin through a spatial multicriteria analysis

Environmental quality preservation and nature conservation are complex land use planning problems, involving not only environmental aspects but also socio-economic and operational factors and represent ecosystem services of fundamental importance to human well-being, for health, livelihoods and survival. The present paper proposes a Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support System (MC-SDSS) development for the assessment of the environmental quality of the river basin of the Pellice river in the Province of Turin (Italy) with the objective of increasing awareness of environmental issues in the territorial planning phase. In order to fulfill this goal, the environmental quality issues were divided into two main aspects, “naturalness” and pressures”, which represent the strengths and the weaknesses of the territory. Different criteria were considered for each theme and were integrated into composite maps by a weighted linear combination of factors resulting from a focus group with several experts in different fields. The results of this approach generated a final suitability map of the study area. The map identifies some critical zones that need mitigation measures and highlights areas with high environmental quality which require future specific monitoring procedures and valorization actions. The application was performed by means of the IDRISI software. This paper is based on an integrated approach which facilitates the comprehension of complex phenomena and aims at exploring innovative MCDA models in the field of the environmental quality preservation assessment of territorial transformation.     

The study of building integration into the surrounding rural landscape: Focus on implementation of a Web-based MC-SDSS and its validation by two-way participation

Everyday people are tackling various decisions. Decision problems in the spatial planning sense often are involved with many alternatives because of their complicated characters and are evaluated on multiple-perspectives based. This paper deals with the implementation of a Web-based Multi-Criteria Spatial Decision Support System (MC-SDSS) and its validation by two-way participation aimed at assessing the suitability of new rural tourism buildings integration occurred in Spanish landscapes. The proposed system focuses on the methodology combined with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) that borrows Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities. Several parameters with an overlay and index method are used to evaluate the suitability of a case study area in Spain. Based on the results of a previous work where the authors defined the first phases of a conceptual framework implementation and prototype application with the methodology, this paper presents the final web implementation and its validation. The implementation was consisted of four consecutive sections with improvements from the previous one. Then, it showed the validated results with radar diagrams, reflecting the different perception of spatial models based on the qualitative two-way content and survey data, public and academic participation, according to the sense of place and field concept. The results contribute consensus on recommendation and new knowledge within the broader field of the analysis and interpretation of the building integration with the Web-based MC-SDSS, which is fundamental to support proper land-uses and decision alternatives through accurate and efficient tool, and to able to apply other destinations.     

Spanish airports performance and efficiency benchmark. A PESA-AGB study

This study uses a MCDA tool to analyse and improve Spanish airports performance and efficiency. Thus, a holistic study using MACBETH (with PESA-AGB) is used. This study has never been applied before in Spanish airports. Firstly, a literature review related to this study keywords is conducted, as well as about benchmarking concept applied specifically to airports. Secondly, several methodologies in used to benchmark airports are reviewed and compared. Thirdly, airport performance and efficiency issues are addressed and described. Finally, the MCDA-MACBETH (with PESA-AGB) tool is applied to 4 Spanish airports.Spanish airports belonging to AENA transported 263, 753, 406 passengers in 2018 with an increase compared to 2017 of 5.8%. General data enables to conclude that.Spanish air transportation system is growing annually and hence there is the need to improve airports performance and efficiency, also to maintain the high levels of quality to address the growing demand. Spanish air transportation system is growing annually and is it upmost important to maintain high levels of quality to address such demand. Through this study, performance and efficiency improvements are seek within several airport key areas such as Safety and Security, Quality Service, Productivity and Effectiveness, Financial and Environment.     

Using IT approaches to promote public participation in renewable energy planning: Prospects and challenges

In response to recent policy initiatives and UK and European legislation there is increasing focus on alternative methodologies and procedures to encourage public participation in environmental planning. This paper is concerned with outlining those methodologies that involve the use of IT methods in enabling a possible consensus to be reached between participatory groups on decisions that may effect their local environment. Specifically, we focus on integrated approaches that involve the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques in facilitating public participation using the case study of the planning of wind farms. The introduction of renewable energy technologies can be a particularly contentious issue in some areas of the UK and we draw on a review of the use of such software tools in order to highlight their application within a decision support system framework. One area where there has been less input from potentially affected local communities or stakeholders relates to the use of computer-generated visualisations in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. We describe future research challenges facing those charged with encouraging participation in the siting of such facilities before re-iterating the policy relevance of this research given the UK governments’ stated commitment to the incorporation of public input into the decision-making process.     

采购外包管理流程的研究

主要探讨研究了采购外包的管理模型,管理采购外包流程的方法,以及运用这些方法所需用到的相关决策工具,如高标定位,多标准决策辅助方法,成本分析和其他的流程管理方法。     

A group MCDA method for aiding decision-making of complex problems in public sector: The case of Belo Monte Dam

We review the applications of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods in energy sector and in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), finding a gap on the non-use of specific methods that deal with divergent opinions, such as a group MCDA method. This way we suggest the application of a group MCDA method to demonstrate how it may be used for aiding group decision-making in public sector. Aiming at analyzing the aforementioned problem, we simulate the choosing of the construction alternatives of Belo Monte Dam. The power plant project was marked by several conflicts among stakeholders due to the generation of diversified environmental, social and economic impacts. The results show that a group MCDA method may be used to aid public sector in the analysis of complex problems, by dividing them into several parts, allowing, therefore, a transparent decision-making process, as well as to solve gaps in the EIA methods.