An integrated decision support system for the Mediterranean forests

Abstract

Mediterranean forests contain a relevant biological diversity and are relevant for local economy. However, they are subject to various risks, particularly the risk of forest fires. This turns the critical decisions of forest managers, affecting both the long-term future of the forest and daily activities, to be difficult. To simulate decisions, and help managers and policy makers, a decision support system, which integrates the biological, environmental and economic management perspectives of agricultural and forest areas, was developed and considers the activities existing in the territory. The decision support system considers the characteristics of the biophysical units that comprise the territorial study area, production technologies and conservation of agro-forestry goods and preferences of managers or stakeholders. The proposed approach was applied in a pilot Forest Intervention Zone (FIZ) located within the Algarve region inner land. The results show that the decision support system proposed is an important tool for managing the territory and for implementing the manager's decisions.

The Concept of Regulating Forest Management in a Region Subject to High Environmental Pressure

“…In North China, tree stands for harvesting at a landscape level were defined in a similar way [60], using decision support system, FORESTAR [61]. Costa Freitas [62] used a three-element assessment of risk (fire), biodiversity and profitability of forest management in the Mediterranean forests in the south of Portugal. Multi-analysis of forest use intensity and tourist pressure indicators enabled Eggers [63] to propose various scenarios for forest management in southern Sweden.…”

Supporting the planning and management of biodiversity through the development of a geospatial decision support system

“…Today, S‐DSS have an important, if short, history (Geertman & Stillwell, 2009) with many successes (e.g., https://falling-walls.com/discover/videos/winner-2022-fabio-terribile/), but also many failures, often associated with the development of very complicated systems which are both hard to operate and difficult to modify. Currently, there is limited use of DSS‐like systems in biodiversity conservation (e.g., Bottero et al, 2013; Jonsson et al, 2020; Poirazidis et al, 2011) while, due to their great potential, S‐DSS are increasingly being used in subjects relating to biodiversity, such as (i) decision‐making assistance for land use planning to support farmers' incomes after the making of costly interventions to aid biodiversity (e.g., Sturm et al, 2018) or (ii) management of forests that feature important biological diversity and valuable economical resources for local communities (e.g., Costa Freitas et al, 2019; Marano et al, 2019).…”

Season Differentiation of Hazardous and Unfavourable Natural Phenomina for Forest Land Use Sphere in the Tomsk Region

“…Исследования, посвященные подобным вопросам, активно ведутся в разных странах не только для снижения рисков лесопользования, вызванных климатическими изменениями [3][4][5], но и для разработки системы страхования лесных ресурсов от опасных явлений [6]. Особое внимание уделяется анализу воздействия опасных явлений, наносящих наибольшие потери лесному фонду в масштабах отдельно взятого региона [7,8].…”