Evaluating sustainable forest management strategies with the Analytic Network Process in a Pressure-State-Response framework

Nowadays forestry faces a complex management situation; the understanding of sustainable forest management (SFM) has gone far beyond the original meaning of sustainable yield of timber. SFM strategies should fulfil ecological, economic and social functions without causing damage to other ecosystems. In this understanding, forest management actions cannot be seen as isolated or mono-causal. In this case study, indicators for SFM are arranged in a Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework at forest management unit level. This framework links pressures on the environment caused by human activities with changes of environmental state (condition) parameters. Forest management also responds to these changes by instituting environmental and economic measures to reduce pressures and restore natural resources. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) is utilized to evaluate the performance of four management strategies with regard to the PSR framework on SFM. Priorities of indicators and alternatives are modelled with the ANP resulting from the interconnections to other indicators and their respective cumulative importance. The approach allows for more detailed information on the network of human influences and their impacts on forest ecosystems and goes beyond the limitations of flat-dimensioned indicator sets. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.