Web-based multiple criteria decision analysis: WEB-HIPRE and the management of environmental uncertainty

The information revolution has opened a new era in decision support: the In ternet and the World Wide Web have emerged as powerful new media for collec ting, disseminating, and accessing information related to the sustainable d evelopment of life support systems. Web-based decision support tools are us eful for addressing large scale, complex, and indeterminate problems, such as global climate change, that have consequences across physical, biologica l, and social dimensions. In this paper, we provide algorithms to extend th e capabilities of Web-HIPRE, a Java-applet for multiple criteria analysis, developed by [17], so that it constitutes a flexible and effective tool for environmental decision analysis under uncertainty. This tool is demonstrat ed using a case study of forest management in the province of New Brunswick , Canada: alternative forest utilization policies are evaluated in the cont ext of ecological and socio-economic objectives. A new approach for multipl e criteria decision analysis is put forth that investigates the robustness of policy alternatives to uncertainty. Numerical and theoretical results sh ow that Web-HIPRE is a valuable instrument to promote ecological sustainabi lity.