The Analytic Hierachy Process (AHP): Standard Version, Forestry Application and Advances

Abstract

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has attracted a lot of attention worldwide both in research and in supporting practical decision-making. It has been found especially suitable for environmental planning with multiple criteria. In natural resource management, the AHP has been most frequently applied to planning at strategic level. The AHP, as any planning method and technique, has its advantages but also drawbacks. Research related to the AHP and to its applications has been vigorous, and many methodological advances and extensions have been developed. These include, for example, statistical analyses of pairwise comparisons data and hybrid methods aiming at embody some fundamental features of the AHP together with benefits of other approaches, such as mathematical optimisation, Delphi technique, and SWOT. In Finland, a heuristic optimisation method called HERO has been developed for purposes of tactical forest planning. HERO can make use of pairwise comparisons and the eigenvalue technique in the formulation of optimisation problems in accordance with decision-makers’ objectives and preferences. It can be applied to group decision support and participatory planning, too. In this article, the standard version of the AHP is first presented. After that, some experiences of the use of the method in forest management planning are discussed, including also the drawbacks. The research efforts carried out in Finland in order to further develop forestry decision support methods, which utilise some ideas and techniques as applied in the AHP, are then briefly presented. A more closer look is taken at HERO.