Integrating the AHP and HERO into the Process of Participatory Natural Resources Planning

Abstract

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is finding more and more applications in the participatory processes involved in planning focusing on natural resources and as a tool in environmental decision support. In the forestry context, a heuristic optimisation method called HERO has been used in tactical planning with multiple participants and interests. HERO can make use of pairwise comparisons and the eigenvalue technique in the formulation of the optimisation problem. In this article, the AHP and HERO are discussed from the viewpoints of criteria given for effective participation. A problem of central importance related to the use of the AHP and HERO is that both of them are rather technique-oriented and consequently the method easily affects the process. The combined use of the AHP or HERO and a “softer” planning approach called positional analysis (PA) is suggested as an approach enabling the user to better meet the criteria of an effective participatory planning process. In this hybrid approach, PA provides the overall framework for the participatory process, into which the AHP or HERO is integrated as a decision-support tool. This approach enables the fulfilment of efficient participation from the viewpoints of both technical decision support and the planning process as a whole.Key wordsDecision supportforest managementplanning theorypublic participation