Decision making in urban forestry by using approval voting and multicriteria approval method (case study: Zvezdarska forest, Belgrade, Serbia)

Abstract

This paper deals with a common urban forestry problem: selecting the most appropriate management policy for a forest situated within a city zone. In the presented case study, we analyzed this problem within the Zvezdarska forest in Belgrade, Serbia. The decision makers that took part in the decision making process represented the two main stakeholder groups - the public and the experts. The public group is divided into three different subgroups: local residents, tourists and environmentalists. The experts group is represented by local authorities and academic experts. The procedure implemented for evaluating and selecting the most desired management policy for the case study area combines approval voting and the multicriteria approval method, two social choice theory methods suitable for decision-making in forestry. The main reason for combining these techniques is to be sure that the selected policy will be accepted as the most desired option by both the public and the experts. The results and discussions with involved decision makers clearly show that the applied procedure possesses sufficient analyticity and full transparency in the decision-making process; hence it is applicable to problems in urban forest management as well as to natural resources in general. © 2013 Elsevier GmbH.