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Incorporating stakeholders' values into environmental decision support: A Bayesian Belief Network approach
Mirka Laurila-Pant1, Samu Mäntyniemi2, Riikka Venesjärvi2
1University of Helsinki, Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme, Fisheries and Environmental Management group, Viikinkaari 2, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
The Science of the Total Environment
|September 3, 2019
Summary
This study introduces a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) approach for participatory environmental planning. It quantifies stakeholder views to support decision-making and find optimal management compromises.
Area of Science:
- Environmental science
- Decision science
- Computational social science
Background:
- Environmental planning requires integrating diverse stakeholder perspectives.
- Current methods often lack transparency and robust quantification of differing views.
- Enhancing mutual understanding is crucial for effective environmental management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a sequential probabilistic approach for incorporating stakeholder views into decision support.
- To quantify and visualize variability in stakeholder opinions.
- To facilitate optimal compromise in environmental management strategies.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a continuous Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) to estimate population parameters from individual value judgments.
- Employed discrete BBN to summarize, visualize, and link stakeholder information to a decision analytic influence diagram (ID).
- Integrated discrete BBN as a distribution-form decision criterion for evaluating management strategies.
Main Results:
- The approach successfully quantifies and visualizes variability in stakeholder views.
- Demonstrated application in marine spatial planning, showing potential for broader use.
- Facilitated probabilistic evaluation of alternative management strategies.
Conclusions:
- The proposed BBN approach enhances transparency and mutual understanding in environmental planning.
- It provides a robust method for integrating diverse stakeholder objectives.
- This facilitates more effective and compromised-driven environmental management solutions.