Introduction
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- How and at what level have the approaches been interconnected?
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- How has the ES concept been used in MCDA and the decision hierarchy?
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- What have been the roles of stakeholders in the process and how have different subjective views of the stakeholders been dealt with in the analyses?
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- What are the advantages and pitfalls of the complementary use of ES and MCDA?
Material and methods
Approaches under Study
Ecosystem service concept
Multi-criteria decision analysis
Complementary use of MCDA and the ES concept
Literature Review
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General publication information (e.g., authors, year, country, journal)
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Type of article (MCDA or ES-driven, or mixed approach)
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Decision situation (e.g., generic example, strategic analysis, or comparison of alternatives)
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Stakeholder involvement in different phases of the process (structuring of the problem, construction of the decision hierarchy, weighting of the criteria, analysis of the results)
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Characteristics of the decision hierarchy (how ES were included in the hierarchy, the total number of criteria, and their number in various ES categories)
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The pros and cons of the applied approach presented in the article
Results
Description and Grouping of the Articles
Decision Hierarchy: how is the ES Concept used in MCDA?
Class | Description | Cases | Link to ES concept |
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A | ES categories are used as such to classify the criteria in the hierarchy | ||
B | ESs and their three/four categories form one branch in the hierarchy | ||
C | ES categories are not presented in the hierarchy, but the criteria describing ESs are explicitly identified and highlighted. | ||
D | The term ES is mentioned as an overarching goal of the analysis | ||
E | The term ES is used as an umbrella concept (title of branch) for some criteria | ||
F | ES is used as one aggregate criterion in the framework | Miller and Belton (2014) | |
G | Neither the term ES nor any of the ES categories or classes are explicitly mentioned in the hierarchy or in the names of criteria, but the analysis is reported to deal with ESs in general |
Authors | Case and criteria used in the analysis |
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Bryan et al. 2010 | Strategic management priorities for a river basin (ES hierarchy based on MEA) |
PS: Food and Fiber, Biochemical resources, Fresh water, Geological resources, Energy, Air quality, Climate | |
RS: Air quality, Climate, Water quantity, Erosion, Water quality, Disease, pests and natural hazards, Pollination | |
CS: Cultural diversity and heritage, Spiritual, sense of place and lifestyle, Knowledge and education, Aesthetics and inspiration, Social relations, Recreation and tourism, Bequest, intrinsic and existence | |
SS: Soil formation, Photosynthesis and plant primary production, Nutrient cycling, Water cycling | |
Esse et al. 2019 | Identification of ES in river catchments (ES hierarchy based on CICES V4.3) |
PS: Rural drinking water, Urban drinking water, Artisanal fishing, Industrial fishing, Grazing (livestock), Flora, Fauna, Seed production | |
RS: Elimination of dilution with non-organic pollutants, Erosion regulation, CO2 sequestration, Surface run-off control | |
CS: Thermal centers, Tourism, Natural beauty, Fishing, Science and research | |
Karjalainen et al. 2013a (Case B) | Evaluation of river restoration alternatives (ES hierarchy based on MEA) |
PS: Commercial harvest, Subsistence harvest | |
CS: Local identity and amenity values, Tourism and attractiveness of the region, Recreational value/recreational fishing | |
SS: Nutrient cycling, Sediment turnover, Aquatic/terrestrial food webs, River mussels | |
Kuller et al. 2019 | Spatial suitability assessment of green urban stormwater infrastructure (‘Needs’ branch based on MAE) |
Opportunities: Biophysical (5 sub-criteria), Socio-economic (3), Planning and governance (10) | |
Needs: Provisional (1 sub-criterion), Cultural (4 sub-criteria) and Regulating services (5 sub-criteria) | |
Liu et al. 2013 | Water resources management - evaluation of ES values of sub-catchments (ES hierarchy based on TEEB) |
PS: Food and Fiber, Freshwater | |
RS: Carbon sequestration, Moderation of extreme events | |
CS: Spiritual and sense of place, Recreational and mental health, Esthetic, appreciation and cultural inspiration | |
Habitat services: Carbon sequestration, Moderation of extreme events | |
McInnes et al. 2016 | Evaluation of water quality improvement and ecosystem service provision (‘ES benefits’ branch based on MEA) |
Non-ES benefits: Buyer and Seller benefits (2 sub-criteria in both), Stakeholder benefits (2), Regulatory risks (4), Project costs (3), Technical effectiveness (2) | |
ES benefits: Four ES categories (optimizing provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services). No criteria. | |
Saarikoski et al. 2019 | Evaluation of peat extraction alternatives (ES hierarchy based on CICES V4.3 and enriched with socio-economic factors) |
PS: Energy peat, Horticultural peat, Berries | |
RS: Carbon sequestration, Water quality, Biodiversity | |
CS: Recreation, Landscape, Education | |
Socio-economic factors: Employment, Regional Economy, Landowners’ freedom of choice |
Consideration of Subjectivity: how was Preference Information Collected and Presented?
Class | Classification of the cases | Cases | Consideration of stakeholders’ subjective views |
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A | Stakeholder preference information was not collected; the authors assigned the weights (illustrative examples of methods) | ||
B | Expert-generated preference/weight profiles on the basis of collected information | ||
C | Preference information was collected from stakeholders. Differences in the preferences were not presented in the article | ||
D | Preference information was collected and preference profiles of selected stakeholder representatives or individual stakeholders were presented or stakeholder representatives were clustered from different perspectives |
Advantages and Pitfalls of the Complementary use of the ES Concept and MCDA in Water Management
Additional value of utilizing the ES concept within MCDA | Pitfalls of utilizing the ES concept in MCDA |
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- Helps in providing performance metrics for monitoring the state of ESs (Miller and Belton 2014) | - The ES terminology may be complex and distant to stakeholders (Karjalainen et al. 2013a) |
- Provides an integrated approach to incorporate ESs into environmental analysis with rigid links between ecosystem characteristics and benefits for people (Karjalainen et al. 2013a) | - In the case of a large variety of ESs, it may be difficult to identify simple descriptors of performance (Miller and Belton 2014) |
Additional value of utilizing MCDA in ES analysis | Pitfalls of utilizing MCDA in ES analysis |
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- Depending on how MCDA is carried out, it may open up rather than close down the policy discourse (Karjalainen et al. 2013b) | |
- Applying value-focused thinking during the scoping stage enables the identification of priority ESs (Karjalainen et al. 2013a) | - The additivity assumption, which is made, for instance, in MAVT, does not necessarily apply (Borsuk et al. 2019) |
- Determining the weights of the criteria is prone to different types of biases (Kuller et al. 2019) | |
- Making sense of multiple, diverse stakeholder priorities requires particular consideration (Bryan et al. 2010) | |
Discussion
General Findings from the Combined use of ES Concept and MCDA
Additional Value and Pitfalls of Utilizing the ES Concept in the MCDA Process
Additional Value and Pitfalls of Utilizing MCDA in the ES Evaluation Process
Recommendations Regarding the Complementary use of MCDA and the ES Concept
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Choice of the methods: When selecting what MCDA methods to use, carefully consider the needs of the case and make the selection of ES categories on the basis of this. For example, in cases of strong sustainability, non-compensatory methods such as ELECTRE are most appropriate (e.g. Borsuk et al. 2019), whereas compensatory methods such as MAVT can be used when trade-offs between ES categories are allowed.
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Stakeholder involvement: Plan the intensity of the stakeholder involvement process according to the purpose of the analysis. Cases aimed at raising awareness do not need such close stakeholder involvement (e.g. Beardmore et al. 2019), but for learning by analysing, close collaboration with the stakeholders is required (e.g. Karjalainen et al. 2013a).
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Criteria selection. Use the ES concept at least as a checklist when creating the MCDA hierarchy in water management cases. At best, the selection of criteria is based on both the innovative thinking stemming from the principles of value-focused MCDA (Keeney 1992) and the utilization of the ES concept for covering all the different ESs.
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Stakeholders’ preferences. Utilize and make transparent the use of stakeholder and expert preferences in the evaluation. It is a good practice to present the details of the weight elicitation protocol (see, e.g., Liquete et al. 2016). Visits by respondents to the study area before determining the weights of the criteria can be useful (Comin et al. 2018).
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Visualization. Visualize the results and present a wide spectrum of preferences to highlight the importance of subjectivity (e.g., Liquete et al. 2016; Saarikoski et al. 2019). Also, make the criteria based on ES categories visible in the MCDA hierarchy. See de Jalon et al. (2014) for an example of highlighting these in the hierarchy to differentiate them from the socioeconomic criteria.
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Understandability. Design a concrete, understandable, and theoretically valid weight elicitation procedure to avoid cognitively too demanding or meaningless questions and biased results (for a good example, see Mavrommati et al. 2017). Use terminology that is familiar to the stakeholders, as some terms related to ESs can be abstract or can have strong meanings for people.
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Evaluation of the process. Carefully report the process, and collect, analyze and report the experiences from participants involved in the evaluation. Reflection on experiences can also benefit other researchers and practitioners in designing how to apply the method and improve MCDA practices in the long term. For a good example of reporting the process, see Borsuk et al. (2019), and for the participants’ experiences, see Karjalainen et al. (2013b).