Structured Decision Making

Author: Robin Gregory
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444333410
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Book Description
This book outlines the creative process of making environmental management decisions using the approach called Structured Decision Making. It is a short introductory guide to this popular form of decision making and is aimed at environmental managers and scientists. This is a distinctly pragmatic label given to ways for helping individuals and groups think through tough multidimensional choices characterized by uncertain science, diverse stakeholders, and difficult tradeoffs. This is the everyday reality of environmental management, yet many important decisions currently are made on an ad hoc basis that lacks a solid value-based foundation, ignores key information, and results in selection of an inferior alternative. Making progress – in a way that is rigorous, inclusive, defensible and transparent – requires combining analytical methods drawn from the decision sciences and applied ecology with deliberative insights from cognitive psychology, facilitation and negotiation. The authors review key methods and discuss case-study examples based in their experiences in communities, boardrooms, and stakeholder meetings. The goal of this book is to lay out a compelling guide that will change how you think about making environmental decisions. Visit www.wiley.com/go/gregory/ to access the figures and tables from the book.

Structured Decision Making

Author: David R. Smith
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421437562
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Book Description
Smith, Jennifer A. Szymanski, Terry Walshe, Nicolas Zuël

Environmental Modeling with Stakeholders

Author: Steven Gray
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319250531
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
This volume brings together, in a central text, chapters written by leading scholars working at the intersection of modeling, the natural and social sciences, and public participation. This book presents the current state of knowledge regarding the theory and practice of engaging stakeholders in environmental modeling for decision-making, and includes basic theoretical considerations, an overview of methods and tools available, and case study examples of these principles and methods in practice. Although there has been a significant increase in research and development regarding participatory modeling, a unifying text that provides an overview of the different methodologies available to scholars and a systematic review of case study applications has been largely unavailable. This edited volume seeks to address a gap in the literature and provide a primer that addresses the growing demand to adopt and apply a range of modeling methods that includes the public in environmental assessment and management. The book is divided into two main sections. The first part of the book covers basic considerations for including stakeholders in the modeling process and its intersection with the theory and practice of public participation in environmental decision-making. The second part of the book is devoted to specific applications and products of the various methods available through case study examination. This second part of the book also provides insight from several international experts currently working in the field about their approaches, types of interactions with stakeholders, models produced, and the challenges they perceived based on their practical experiences.

Transforming Conservation

Author: William J. Sutherland
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1800648596
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Book Description
There are severe problems with the decision-making processes currently widely used, leading to ineffective use of evidence, faulty decisions, wasting of resources and the erosion of public and political support. In this book an international team of experts provide solutions. The transformation suggested includes rethinking how evidence is assessed, combined, communicated and used in decision-making; using effective methods when asking experts to make judgements (i.e. avoiding just asking an expert or a group of experts!); using a structured process for making decisions that incorporate the evidence and having effective processes for learning from actions. In each case, the specific problem with decision making is described with a range of practical solutions. Adopting this approach to decision-making requires societal change so detailed suggestions are made for transforming organisations, governments, businesses, funders and philanthropists. The practical suggestions include twelve downloadable checklists. The vision of the authors is to transform conservation so it is more effective, more cost-efficient, learns from practice and is more attractive to funders. However, the lessons of this important book go well beyond conservation to decision-makers in any field.

Wildlife Management and Conservation

Author: Paul R. Krausman
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421443961
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Book Description
"The book contains the essential information that wildlife biologists and managers use to manage wildlife populations today, and it gives students the information they need to pursue a profession in wildlife management and conservation"--

Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biodiversity

Author: Yeqiao Wang
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 042981934X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 605

Book Description
Authored by world-class scientists and scholars, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, is an excellent reference for understanding the consequences of changing natural resources to the degradation of ecological integrity and the sustainability of life. Based on the content of the bestselling and CHOICE-awarded Encyclopedia of Natural Resources, this new edition demonstrates the major challenges that the society is facing for the sustainability of all well-being on the planet Earth. The experience, evidence, methods, and models used in studying natural resources are presented in six stand-alone volumes, arranged along the main systems of land, water, and air. It reviews state-of-the-art knowledge, highlights advances made in different areas, and provides guidance for the appropriate use of remote sensing and geospatial data with field-based measurements in the study of natural resources. Volume 1, Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biodiversity, provides fundamental information on terrestrial ecosystems, approaches to monitoring, and impacts of climate change on natural vegetation and forests. New to this edition are discussions on biodiversity conservation, gross and net primary production, soil microbiology, land surface phenology, and decision support systems. This volume demonstrates the key processes, methods, and models used through many case studies from around the world. Written in an easy-to-reference manner, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, as individual volumes or as a complete set, is an essential reading for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the science and management of natural resources. Public and private libraries, educational and research institutions, scientists, scholars, and resource managers will benefit enormously from this set. Individual volumes and chapters can also be used in a wide variety of both graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental science and natural science at different levels and disciplines, such as biology, geography, earth system science, and ecology.

Materials Selection for Sustainability in the Built Environment

Author: Assed N. Haddad
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323951236
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 554

Book Description
Materials Selection for Sustainability in the Built Environment: Environmental, Social and Economic Aspects presents the current state-of-the-art when it comes to the decision-making process for choosing construction materials to deliver sustainable construction projects. Aspects covered include the science of enhanced decision-making via operational research and machine learning techniques and how this can be implemented in various disciplines such as architecture, engineering and construction. To this end, the book discusses environmental, economic and social aspects in assessing construction materials and presents different tools and methods that can benefit and facilitate this process. Finally, the book reviews previous publications on construction material selection and presents essential discussions on the role professionals, researchers, contractors and governments play in making more sustainable decisions on the built environment. - Presents a lifecycle management-based, systematic and integrated approach for sustainable construction materials selection - Discusses the impact of materials selection, covering every aspect of sustainability (environmental, social and economic aspects) - Looks at the concept of the circular economy - Provides case studies on decision-making methods in combination with lifecycle sustainability assessments

Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management

Author: Daniel J. Decker
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421407418
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
Updated and revised, this classic work is a must-read for every student of wildlife management and every professional seeking to become a better manager. Wildlife professionals can more effectively manage species and social-ecological systems by fully considering the role that humans play in every stage of the process. Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management provides the essential information that students and practitioners need to be effective problem solvers. Edited by three leading experts in wildlife management, this textbook explores the interface of humans with wildlife and their sometimes complementary, often conflicting, interests. The book's well-researched chapters address conservation, wildlife use (hunting and fishing), and the psychological and philosophical underpinnings of wildlife management. Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management explains how a wildlife professional should handle a variety of situations, such as managing deer populations in residential areas or encounters between predators and people or pets. This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes detailed information about • systems thinking • working with social scientists • managing citizen input • using economics to inform decision making • preparing questionnaires • ethical considerations

Decision Making for the Environment

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309095409
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
With the growing number, complexity, and importance of environmental problems come demands to include a full range of intellectual disciplines and scholarly traditions to help define and eventually manage such problems more effectively. Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities is the result of a 2-year effort by 12 social and behavioral scientists, scholars, and practitioners. The report sets research priorities for the social and behavioral sciences as they relate to several different kinds of environmental problems.

Conservation Planning

Author: Craig Groves
Publisher: Bedford
ISBN: 9781936221516
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The authors draw on their extensive “hands-on” experience to provide an essential textbook for practitioners, students, or researchers of conservation, natural resource management, or landscape planning and architecture. This title provides the methods, tools, approaches, and case studies to plan a nature conservation project from inception to implementation and monitoring and evaluation. It draws on a wide range of disciplines and literature from conservation biology, landscape architecture, and land-use planning to decision science, natural resource economics, and sustainability. The book's primary audience is conservation scientists, planners, and practitioners in nongovernmental organizations; natural resource agency biologists and scientists; and professional landscape architects and land-use planners in both developed and developing nations throughout the world. With decades of experience as conservation planners, the authors have combined the fields of spatial planning (establishing priority places for conservation) and strategic planning into one overall planning approach. The book's underlying philosophy is that effective planning is really about making tough choices of where to allocate resources to achieve the conservation outcomes of a project, program, or conservation initiative.