Decision support systems for forest management: A comparative analysis and assessment

Assisting Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Policy Planning with the Sim4Tree Decision Support System

“…By structuring decision problems and analyzing the outcome and implications of alternative management scenarios, DSS greatly facilitate reasoned decision making for stakeholders [10,17]. Available DSS account for a broad range of forest ecosystems [4] and vary widely in terms of functionality (temporal scale, spatial scale, simulated variables, spatial analysis, optimization, visualization), typology (scope and objectives, user involvement, models and methods) and architectural set-up (user interface, database, modules) [18,19]. Comprehensive overviews of available DSS for forest management planning have been compiled within the framework of the European COST Action FP0804 forest management decision support systems (FORSYS); see [4,20].…”

“…In this respect, the three following key targets of future DSS development could be synthesized from recent literature. Firstly, there is a need for further integration, referring to the consideration of multiple spatio-temporal scales and a broader array of services [17,21,22], in particular regulating and socio-cultural ones [19]. Several authors recommend a toolbox approach, which refers to a modular software architecture flexibly combining different models and systems [8,23,24] and enabling linkages with different (web-based) data sources and/or other DSS [24][25][26].…”

“…Several authors recommend a toolbox approach, which refers to a modular software architecture flexibly combining different models and systems [8,23,24] and enabling linkages with different (web-based) data sources and/or other DSS [24][25][26]. With regard to the current lack of integration, the fact that most DSS are case-specifically developed and are not systematically recorded in a meta-database of DSS [20] is leading to inefficiencies and overlap in development efforts [19]. Secondly, there is a need for more robust outputs, which account for the risks and uncertainties in forest management and policy, related to the increasing exposure of European forests to climate change and natural disturbances (heat waves, drought, fire, storm, flooding, biotic risks) [27][28][29] or to the future development of the wood market and other human needs.…”

“…Therefore, the development of multifunctional, reliable and user-friendly DSS will become an even more essential and economically relevant challenge for flexible and interactive forest management and forest policy planning [11,19]. The current shortcomings, as well as newly emerging decision problem domains propel the demand for new DSS from audiences ranging from individual forest managers to landscape planners to (supra-)national policy makers and administrations [9,10,17].…”

Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Delineating Agricultural Land in Jakarta Metropolitan Area’s Hinterland: Case Study of Bogor Regency, West Java

“…This has allowed the land evaluation method to be achieved through the decision-making concept utilizing several criteria which can be done spatially. The concept is not only useful for agriculture (Baja et al, 2007;Bandhyopadhyay et al, 2009), but also used for other sectors including forestry (Segura et al, 2014), industry (Rikalovic et al, 2014), tourism (Rozman et al, 2009), landfill site (Guiqin et al, 2009;Effat and Hegazy, 2012), parking site (Zucca et al, 2008) and environment (Comino et al, 2014).…”