Participatory multi-criteria decision aid: Operationalizing an integrated assessment of ecosystem services

Abstract

Ongoing ecosystem alterations underscore the need for ecosystem service assessment to urgently enterpolicy-making. Participatory methods and a systematic inclusion of stakeholders are crucial yet underde-veloped cornerstones of environmental decision making. This study aims at conducting a transparent andlegitimized integrated assessment of ecosystem services that rigorously involves stakeholder knowledgeand values in environmental decision making. To this end, participatory multi-criteria decision aid wasapplied to the case of declining vineyard ecosystems surrounding the National Park of Doñana insouth-west Spain. Data was gained by means of a survey (n = 178), interviews (n = 21), and three stake-holder workshops (each with 15–21 participants). We found that stakeholder engagement improved allsteps of decision making, including problem structuring, policy evaluation, and operationalization. Ourresults thereby reinforce two major arguments for adopting participatory methods in integrated ecosys-tem service assessments: (1) the inclusion of stakeholders and their objectives adds legitimacy to deci-sion making; (2) the integration of stakeholder knowledge provides important information for decisionmaking