FORMULATION OF MULTIOBJECTIVE ANALYSIS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN COLOMBIAN ANDES

Conservation efforts aimed at preserving forest resources in the High-Andean Paramo System of the Antioquia Department is part of a decision-making process fundamentally determined by allocation of financial resources. In this article I attempt to define a methodology to tackle this problem by undertaking a multiobjective analysis. Firstly, I propose specific criteria for analyzing spatial phenomena according to both field observations and Social Science theory. Subsequently I study correlation of such criteria in order to define the two objectives for analysis. Results suggest that correlation coefficients equal or greater than 0.6 are acceptable to represent the studied social phenomena. The methodology here proposed requires understanding the actual social phenomena under scrutiny within a flexible theoretical framework and to select analysis criteria that takes into account its statistical behaviour as a whole.