Participatory multicriteria decision analysis with Web-HIPRE: a case of lake regulation policy

Abstract

Environmental decision making typically concerns several stakeholders with conflicting views. Multicriteria decision analysis provides transparent ways to elicit and communicate individual preferences. When the stakeholders clearly understand each other’s views, a consensus can be reached more easily. Computer software provides a substantial enhancement to support participatory decision making processes, for example, in the preference elicitation and in the analysis of the results. In this paper, we describe the first web-based multicriteria decision support software called Web-HIPRE, and the use of it in participatory environmental modelling. The world wide web provides new possibilities to support the process, for example, by allowing distributed decision support. The stakeholders can be located in different geographical areas, especially in environmental problems. We illustrate the use of Web-HIPRE in a case dealing with the evaluation of regulation policies for the Lake Päijänne in Finland. Decision analysis interviews were carried out and preference models of some typical stakeholders were collaboratively analyzed in order to increase the understanding of other stakeholders’ views. This proved to be an applicable approach in trying to reach consensus between the stakeholders. Web-HIPRE also provided a flexible way to allow complementary support via the web.

Introduction

Public concern of the state of the environment has grown rapidly and this has also increased interest in participatory decision making. Consequently, public approval has become an important decision objective, and the public participation a common element in environmental decision making processes. However, the large number of stakeholders also induces a large number of conflicting views, and transparent and structured processes are needed to reach participants’ shared understanding of the problem.

Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) and computer based decision support systems (DSS) provide ways to systematically structure and analyze complex decision problems. With these, individuals can evaluate and compare the policy alternatives. In participatory planning processes they provide methods to analyze and aggregate the preferences of the decision makers (DM). For recent surveys of MCDA applications, see Keefer et al. (2004) and Hämäläinen (2004).

The proliferation of the internet has greatly enhanced the possibilities to support public interaction including participatory decision processes (see e.g. Bhargava and Krishnan, 1998 or Geoffrion and Krishnan, 2001). The world wide web provides techniques for both multimedia communication and interactive distributed modelling and preference elicitation, as well as the exchange of the results.

In this paper, we describe the use of Web-HIPRE software in participatory processes. Web-HIPRE is a Web implementation of the earlier HIPRE 3+ software (Hämäläinen and Lauri, 1995), and as far as the authors know, it is the first web-based general purpose MCDA software that provides tools for problem structuring, preference elicitation and sharing the results over the internet. The release of Web-HIPRE in 1998 has also stimulated efforts to develop other very similar systems (see e.g. Zhu and Dale, 2001). However, Web-HIPRE still remains one of the few general purpose decision analytical software packages available for on-line use on the web (see e.g. Maxwell, 2002). We shall also briefly discuss the use of another web-based tool called Opinions-Online (Hämäläinen and Kalenius, 1999), to collect and process survey type information over the Internet. Both Web-HIPRE and Opinions-Online are part of the Decisionarium (Hämäläinen, 2000), our site for interactive multicriteria decision support.

The main objective of this paper is to describe and discuss the different possibilities of Web-HIPRE to support participatory processes in environmental decision making. In this respect, this study differs from conventional ones with an aim to validate the given hypotheses. As an example, we also illustrate the use of the software in the case of developing the regulation of Lake Päijänne in Southern Finland (see also Hämäläinen et al., 2001). The use of the decision analysis tools was an essential part of the process. Web-HIPRE and HIPRE 3+ were applied to evaluate the regulation policies and to support the analysis of the results. The main objectives were to identify the values and opinions of representatives of the stakeholders in the steering group, and in this way enhance their overall understanding of the problem. Web-based software was applied to demonstrate the possibilities of new technology. Opinions-Online was used in the closing workshop to bring into discussion stakeholders’ opinions about the regulation development project and the recommendations for the mitigation measures presented.

Traditionally, MCDA software has only been used by decision analysts. However, our easy-to-use software is available to everyone on the internet, which makes it possible for the DMs to learn to use the software by themselves. We have developed and made publicly available web-based learning material (Hämäläinen, 2002) for helping in the independent use of the software. It is hoped that this material will minimize the possibilities of using the methods incorrectly, thus generating biased results. In general, our goal is to provide the resources in Decisionarium, and to guarantee the proper use of them.

This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives a brief introduction to public participation in environmental processes. Section 3 describes the use of MCDA with Web-HIPRE, and discusses the possibilities of using Web-HIPRE in environmental applications. Section 4 describes the case of Lake Päijänne and the use of Web-HIPRE and Opinions-Online to support the participatory process in the evaluation of the lake regulation policies. Section 5 concludes the paper.