Environmental Management: Principles and practice

GIS and environmental management
GIS is a powerful aid for environmental management, in practice and for training
environmental managers (Woodcock et al., 1990; Gumbricht, 1996) (see chapter 9).
Expert systems and environmental management
Expert systems are computer programs that rely on a body of knowledge to perform
a difficult task usually performed only by a human expert. They are increasingly
used where there is a shortage of skilled experts. Costly to establish, the systems
should improve with use. There have been applications to environmental management
(Moffatt, 1990; Fitzgerald, 1993; Warwick et al., 1993).

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Decision support for environmental management
One of the problems faced in environmental decision making is complexity, with
limited time and difficult-to-trace webs of interrelationships. Tools that can clarify
data are useful (data visualization for decision support is reviewed in Landscape and
Urban Planning 21, no. 4—published 1992). Decision support systems are derived
from operational research and management science, they deal with complexity by
‘playing’ to learn fast. Usually they take the form of interactive computer-based
systems which help the decision-maker model and solve problems (some would
argue that anything that aids decision making is a decision support—even a cup of
coffee) (Janssen, 1995).
Whether complicated approaches like the multiple criteria method (Paruccini,
1995) are of practical value is unclear. There is also a need for approaches that can
help the environmental manager weigh goals against costs and risks, and structure
strategies in the best way. Operational research or management and multi-objective
decision support methods can provide useful help for the environmental manager
(Bloemhofruwaard et al., 1995).
The use of computer-based systems in support of decision making in
environmental management has increased over the last decade. Some systems integrate
the use of GIS and modelling as well as aiding decision making (Zhu et al., 1998).