Natural resource management and the use of multiple criteria decision-making techniques: A review

Planning and managing the use of natural resources is a complex process which requires taking decisions that inevitably involve several objectives of an economic, environmental and social nature. This paper attempts to improve the awareness in the agricultural economics profession of the potential role that multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques can play in analysing problems involving several objectives. Important applications of the MCDM techniques to planning and management problems in fisheries, forestry, water and land resources are reviewed, and some 150 applications are brought together to provide a unified source of reference.