Abstract
A ubiquitous problem for community-based regional environmental agencies is to set strategic management priorities among a myriad of issues and multiple stakeholder perspectives. Here, we quantify the strategic management priorities for natural capital and ecosystem services using multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) in a case study of the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board (the Board) region. A natural capital and ecosystem services framework was tailored to present decision-makers with a range of potential issues for strategic consideration as goal hierarchies in MCDA. Priorities were elicited from the Board and its four regionally based consultative groups using the Analytical Hierarchy Process and swing weights. Centered log ratio transformed weights were analyzed using multiple pairwise ANOVA comparisons (Dunnett’s T3) and hierarchical cluster analysis. Substantial variation in priorities occurred between decision-makers. Nonetheless, analysis of priorities for assets and services robustly demonstrated that water was the highest priority, followed by land, then biota, with atmosphere the lowest priority. Decision-makers also considered that environmental management should not impact negatively on built or social capital. Few significant differences in priorities were found between decision-maker groups. However, clusters of manager types were found which represent distinct alternative management strategies, notably the prioritization of either intermediate or final ecosystem services. The results have implications for regional environmental decision-making and suggest that embracing variation in perspectives may be a better way forward for multistakeholder MCDA. The study operationalizes natural capital and ecosystem services by providing strategic priorities for targeting management and policy within the context of community-based, regional environmental management.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aitchison J. 1982. The statistical analysis of compositional data (with discussion). J R Stat Soc Ser B (Stat Methodol) 44:139–77.
Aitchison J. 1986. The statistical analysis of compositional data, monographs on statistics and applied probability. London, UK: Chapman & Hall Ltd.
Aitchison J, Egozcue JJ. 2005. Compositional data analysis: where are we and where should we be heading? Math Geol 37:833–54.
Ananda J, Herath G. 2008. Multi-attribute preference modeling and regional land-use planning. Ecol Econ 65:325–35.
Ananda J, Herath G. 2003. The use of Analytic Hierarchy Process to incorporate stakeholder preferences into regional forest planning. Forest Policy Econ 5:13–26.
Arrow KJ. 1950. A difficulty in the concept of social welfare. J Polit Econ 58:328–46.
Balasubramaniam A, Voulvoulis N. 2005. The appropriateness of multicriteria analysis in environmental decision-making problems. Environ Technol 26:951–62.
Balasubramaniam A, Boyle AR, Voulvoulis N. 2007. Improving petroleum contaminated land remediation decision-making through the MCA weighting process. Chemosphere 66:791–8.
Boyd J, Banzhaf S. 2007. What are ecosystem services? The need for standardized environmental accounting units. Ecol Econ 63:616–26.
Broderick K. 2005. Communities in catchments: implications for natural resource management. Geogr Res 43:286–96.
Bryan BA, Crossman ND. 2008. Systematic regional planning for multiple objective natural resource management. J Environ Manage 88:1175–89.
Buccianti A, Mateu-Figueras G, Pawlowsky-Glahn V, Eds. 2006. Compositional data analysis in the geosciences: from theory to practice. UK: Geological Society London, Special Publication 264.
Cast AS, Hatton MacDonald D, Grandgirard A, Kalivas T, Strathearn S, Sanderson M, Bryan BA, Frahm D. 2008. South Australian Murray Darling Basin environmental values report. Water for a Healthy Country National Research Flagship Report, CSIRO.
Costanza C, d’Arge R, De Groot R, Farber S, Grasso M, Hannon B, Limburg K, Naeem S, O’Neill RV, Paruelo J, Raskin RG, Sutton P, van den Belt M. 1997. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387:253–60.
Cowling RM, Egoh B, Knight AT, O’Farrell PJ, Reyers B, Rouget M, Roux DJ, Welz A, Wilhelm-Rechman A. 2008. An operational model for mainstreaming ecosystem services for implementation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:9483–8.
Crossman ND, Bryan BA. 2009. Identifying cost-effective hotspots for restoring natural capital and enhancing landscape multifunctionality. Ecol Econ 68:654–68.
Daily GC. 1997. What are ecosystem services? In: Daily GC, Ed. Nature’s services: societal dependence on natural ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Daily GC, Polasky S, Goldstein J, Kareiva PM, Mooney HA, Pejchar L, Ricketts TH, Salzman J, Shallenberger R. 2009. Ecosystem services in decision making: time to deliver. Front Ecol Environ 7:21–8.
Daunis-i-Estadella J, Barceló-Vidal C, Buccianti A. 2006. Exploratory compositional data analysis. In: Buccianti A, Mateu-Figueras G. Pawlowsky-Glahn, V. Eds. Compositional Data Analysis in the Geosciences: From Theory to Practice. London: Geological Society, Special Publication 264. p 161–74.
de Groot RS, Wilson MA, Boumans RMJ. 2002. A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecol Econ 41:393–408.
Drew LJ, Grunsky EC, Schuenemeyer JH. 2008. Investigation of the structure of geological process through multivariate statistical analysis—the creation of a coal. J Math Geosci 40:789–811.
Dunnett CW. 1980. Pairwise comparisons in the unequal variance case. J Am Stat Assoc 75:796–800.
Emtage N, Herbohn J, Harrison S. 2007. Landholder profiling and typologies for natural resource management policy and program support: potential and constraints. Environ Manage 40:481–92.
Farber S, Costanza R, Childers RL, Erickson J, Gross K, Grove M, Hopkinson CS, Kahn J, Pincetl S, Troy A, Warren P, Wilson M. 2006. Linking ecology and economics for ecosystem management. Bioscience 56:121–33.
Farrelly M, Conacher A. 2007. Integrated, regional, natural resource and environmental planning and the Natural Heritage Trust Phase 2: a case study of the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council, Western Australia. Aust Geogr 38:309–33.
Fisher B, Turner K, Zylstra M, Brouwer R, de Groot R, Farber S, Ferraro P, Green R, Hadley D, Harlow J, Jefferiss P, Kirkby C, Morling P, Mowatt S, Naidoo R, Paavola J, Strassburg B, Yu D, Balmford A. 2008. Ecosystem services and economic theory: Integration for policy-relevant research. Ecol Appl 18:2050–67.
Fisher B, Turner RK, Morling P. 2009. Defining and classifying ecosystem services for decision making. Ecol Econ 68:643–53.
Fürstenau C, Badeck FW, Lasch P, Lexer MJ, Lindner M, Mohr P, Suckow F. 2007. Multiple-use forest management in consideration of climate change and the interests of stakeholder groups. Eur J Forest Res 126:225–39.
Gamboa G. 2006. Social multi-criteria evaluation of different development scenarios of the Aysen region, Chile. Ecol Econ 59:157–70.
Hajkowicz S. 2006. Multi-attributed environmental index construction. Ecol Econ 57:122–39.
Hajkowicz S. 2007. Allocating scarce financial resources across regions for environmental management in Queensland, Australia. Ecol Econ 61:208–16.
Hajkowicz SA. 2008. Supporting multi-stakeholder environmental decisions. J Environ Manage 88:607–14.
Hajkowicz S, Higgins AJ. 2008. A comparison of multiple criteria analysis techniques for water resource management. Eur J Oper Res 184:255–65.
Hajkowicz S, McDonald G. 2006. The Assets, Threats and Solvability (ATS) model for setting environmental priorities. J Environ Policy Plan 8:87–102.
Hermans C, Erickson J, Noordewier T, Sheldon A, Kline M. 2007. Collaborative environmental planning in river management: an application of multicriteria decision analysis in the White River Watershed in Vermont. J Environ Manage 84:534–46.
Kroeger T, Casey F. 2007. An assessment of market-based approaches to providing ecosystem services on agricultural lands. Ecol Econ 64:321–32.
Lai P, Sorice MG, Nepal SK, Cheng C. 2009. Integrating social marketing into sustainable resource management at Padre Island National Seashore: an attitude-based segmentation approach. Environ Manage 43:985–98.
Lai VS, Wong BK, Cheung WM. 2002. Group decision making in a multiple criteria environment: a case using the AHP in software selection. Eur J Oper Res 137:134–44.
Macdonald DV, Hanley N, Moffat N. 1999. Applying the concept of natural capital criticality to regional resource management. Ecol Econ 29:73–87.
MEA. 2005. Ecosystems and human well-being: synthesis. Millennium ecosystem assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Mendoza GA, Martins H. 2006. Multi-criteria decision analysis in natural resource management: a critical review of methods and new modelling paradigms. For Ecol Manag 230:1–22.
Nelson E, Mendoza G, Regetz J, Polasky S, Tallis H, Cameron DR, Chan KMA, Daily GC, Goldstein J, Kareiva PM, Lonsdorf E, Naidoo R, Ricketts TH, Shaw MR. 2009. Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales. Front Ecol Environ 7:4–11.
Pavlikakis GE, Tsihrintzis VA. 2003. A quantitative method for accounting human opinion, preferences and perceptions in ecosystem management. J Environ Manage 68:193–205.
Pawlowsky-Glahn V, Egozcue JJ. 2006. Compositional data and their analysis: an introduction. In: Buccianti A, Mateu-Figueras G, Pawlowsky-Glahn V. Eds. Compositional data analysis in the geosciences: from theory to practice. London: Geological Society, Special Publication 264. p 1–11.
Pawlowsky-Glahn V, Egozcue JJ, Tolosano-Delgado R. 2007. Lecture notes on compositional analysis. http://ima.udg.edu/Recerca/EIO/inici_eng.html.
Peterson A, McAlpine CA, Ward D, Rayner S. 2007. New regionalism and nature conservation: lessons from South East Queensland, Australia. Landsc Urban Plan 82:132–44.
Prato T. 1999. Multiple attribute decision analysis for ecosystem management. Ecol Econ 30:207–22.
Prato T, Herath G. 2007. Multiple criteria decision analysis for integrated catchment management. Ecol Econ 63:627–32.
Raymond CM, Bryan BA, Hatton MacDonald D, Cast A, Strathearn S, Grandgirard A, Kalivas T. 2009. Mapping community values and risks towards natural capital and ecosystem services for environmental management. Ecol Econ 68:1301–15.
Regan HM, Colyvan M, Markovchick-Nicholls L. 2006. A formal model for consensus and negotiation in environmental management. J Environ Manage 80:167–76.
Rezaei-Moghaddam K, Karami E. 2008. A multiple criteria evaluation of sustainable agricultural development models using AHP. Environ Develop Sustain 10:407–26.
Robins L, Dovers S. 2007. NRM regions in Australia: the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have Nots’. Geogr Res 45:273–90.
Saaty TL. 1977. A scaling method for priorities in hierarchical structures. J Math Psychol 15:231–81.
Saaty T. 1980. The analytical hierarchy process. USA: McGraw-Hill.
Saaty T. 1994. Fundamentals of decision making and priority theory with the analytical hierarchy process. USA: RWS Publications.
SAMDB NRM Board. 2003. Integrated natural resource management plan for the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin. Adelaide, Australia: South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board.
SAMDB NRM Board. 2009. SAMDB website. http://www.samdbnrm.sa.gov.au. Accessed 11/05/09.
Schmoldt DL, Peterson DL. 2000. Analytical group decision making in natural resources: methodology and application. Forest Sci 46:62–75.
Sell J, Koellner T, Weber O, Pedroni L, Scholz RW. 2006. Decision criteria of European and Latin American market actors for tropical forestry projects providing environmental services. Ecol Econ 58:17–36.
Smith G. 2007. Logical decision for Windows: users manual. Fairfax, VA: Logical Decisions.
Somanathan E, Prabhakar R, Mehta BS, Singh B. 2009. Decentralization for cost-effective conservation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:4143–7.
Turner RK, Daily GC. 2008. The ecosystem services framework and natural capital conservation. Environ Resour Econ 39:25–35.
Von Winterfeldt D, Edwards W. 1986. Decision analysis and behavioral research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Wallace KJ. 2007. Classification of ecosystem services: problems and solutions. Biol Conserv 139:235–46.
Ward JH Jr. 1963. Hierarchical grouping to optimise an objective function. J Am Stat Assoc 58:236–44.
Xenarios S, Tziritis I. 2007. Improving pluralism in multi criteria decision aid approach through focus group technique and content analysis. Ecol Econ 62:692–703.
Yang W, Bryan BA, Hatton MacDonald D, Ward JR, Wells G, Crossman ND, Connor JD. 2010. A conservation industry for sustaining natural capital and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. Ecol Econ 69:680–9.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resource Management Board and CSIRO’s Sustainable Regional Development theme and Water for a Healthy Country Flagship for funding the research. We are also grateful to the decision-makers and community of the SAMDB who participated in the research. The authors are indebted to Juan José Egozcue, Vera Pawlowsky-Glahn, Julian Taylor, and Ari Verbyla for their patient and kind help and detailed advice on compositional analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Author Contributions
BB conceived of the study, BB and AG designed the study and performed the research, BB and JW analysed the data, and BB wrote the paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bryan, B.A., Grandgirard, A. & Ward, J.R. Quantifying and Exploring Strategic Regional Priorities for Managing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services Given Multiple Stakeholder Perspectives. Ecosystems 13, 539–555 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9339-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9339-0