Artificial intelligence and environmental decision support systems

An effective protection of our environment is largely dependent on the qual ity of the available information used to make an appropriate decision. Prob lems arise when the quantities of available information are huge and nonuni form (i.e., coming from many different disciplines or sources) and their qu ality could not be stated in advance. Another associated issue is the dynam ical nature of the problem. Computers are central in contemporary environme ntal protection in tasks such as monitoring, data analysis, communication, information storage and retrieval, so it has been natural to try to integra te and enhance all these tasks with Artificial Intelligence knowledge-based techniques. This paper presents an overview of the impact of Artificial In telligence techniques on the definition and development of Environmental De cision Support Systems (EDSS) during the last fifteen years. The review hig hlights the desirable features that an EDSS must show. The paper concludes with a selection of successful applications to a wide range of environmenta l problems.