Resumo

MATEUS, Ricardo J. G  e  PADILHA, Damáris G. Multi-criteria evaluation of the fragility of territory to forestry activities: Environmental zoning in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Finisterra [online]. 2017, n.104, pp.73-104. ISSN 0430-5027.  https://doi.org/10.18055/Finis6971.

Multi-criteria decision support methods have been applied in various territorial and environmental planning problems. The expansion of forestry activities in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul is regulated by a legal instrument to support public policy decisions referred to as the Environmental Zoning of Forestry activities, whose methodological foundations were based on an evaluation of the environmental fragility of the territory to the externalities imposed by these activities. Using this instrument as a reference case, this article presents a critical analysis of the underlying multi-criteria analysis approach, illustrating it based on various key methodological mistakes, in particular the inadequate structuring of evaluation criteria, the ambiguous definition of impact descriptors, not distinguishing between impact estimate and value measurement, or misunderstanding the actual meaning of weights in a multi-criteria aggregation model. In parallel, by means of a case study, an alternative methodology is proposed in the light of multi-criteria value measurement theory and a systematic, auditable, transparent, and participatory decision aiding process. The ultimate aim of this article is to contribute to the development and application of more rigorous and technically sound multi-criteria analysis methods, especially in problems characterized by the existence of competition and conflict among various stakeholders for the use of the existing scarce resources of a territory and, more specifically, in the formulation of future Ecological and Economical Zoning instruments in Brazil

Palavras-chave : Multi-criteria analysis; fragility; zoning; forestry; land use conflicts.

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