Regional environmental assessment for multiagency policy making: implementing an environmental ontology through GIS-MCDA

Regional environmental assessments aim to synthesize the complex dynamics of socioenvironmental systems to facilitate sustainable policymaking. Theoretically, these assessments serve as 'boundary objects' that link scientific knowledge and policy making within a multiagency context. Nevertheless, achieving a boundary object is challenging because of the significant technical and scientific uncertainties, as well as the contrasting perceptions, values, and ideologies regarding the environmental issues of concern. Drawing on theoretical developments concerning the meaning and interpretation of geographical entities, we introduce an analytical framework based upon the development of environmental ontologies. These ontologies are capable of depicting the complexity of socioenvironmental systems in manageable terms, so that the results are empirically valid and concretize the multidimensional meanings of geographical entities. The analytical framework is operationalized through a geographical information system - multicriteria modeling approach (GIS-MCDA). The approach is illustrated through a case study regarding the assessment of cumulative impacts in two urban watersheds in Mexico.