Sustainable decision making based on systems integration and decision support system promoting endorheic basin sustainability

Abstract

Sustainability has become a target in official policy rhetoric. However, the gap between scientific investigation and practical decision-making poses a significant challenge in achieving sustainability, particularly in endorheic regions. Addressing this challenge requires the translation of scientific outcomes into available decision-making information. In this study, we propose a sustainable decision-making methodology, namely, decision rehearsal, that has four stages: the scientification of decision-making problems, the politicization of scientific knowledge, the translation of scientific findings into decision-making information, and the translation of decision-making information into policy action. Based on this theoretical framework, an ensemble artifact, referred to as the River Basin Sustainable Development Decision Support System (RSDSS), was designed, built and evaluated from a design science research perspective to address a class of sustainability problems in endorheic basins. This system integrates a watershed-integrated model, disaggregated sustainable development goals (SDGs), localized shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), and a sustainability assessment model, which can assist decision- and policy-makers in more deeply understand the impacts of different policy assumptions on the interactions between human and natural systems and watershed sustainability. Some related RSDSS cases are discussed to demonstrate the ability of the RSDSS to resolve complex watershed problems, which implies that the RSDSS can promote sustainable river basin management.