Two-level multicriterial problem for the management of forest ecosystems in Portugal

Abstract

The Interactive Decision Maps (IDM) method has been successfully used for several decades to analyze multi-criteria economic and environmental problems with a large number of variables. A key element for building decision maps is the Edgeworth-Pareto hull (EPH) of a feasible set in the criteria space, the construction (or approximation) of which is a difficult computational task. To solve this problem, decomposition method based on the EPH approximation for subsystems (blocks) with their subsequent integration was proposed. We describe the application of the IDM method to the Vale de Sousa region in Portugal, fragmented due to the large number of private householders. Private properties are agregated into three blocks (sub-regions). The results of applying the decomposition method for approximation of EPH are presented. The decision-making process in the two-level system is illustrated.