scholarly journals Quantifying the checks and balances of decentralised governance systems for adaptive carnivore management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Cusack ◽  
Erlend B. Nilsen ◽  
Markus Fjellstad Israelsen ◽  
Henrik Andren ◽  
Matthew Grainger ◽  
...  

1.Recovering or threatened carnivore populations are often harvested to minimise their impact on human activities, such as livestock farming or game hunting. Increasingly, harvest quota decisions involve a set of scientific, administrative and political institutions operating at national and sub-national levels whose interactions and collective decision-making aim to increase the legitimacy of management and ensure population targets are met. In practice, however, assessments of how quota decisions change between these different actors and what consequences these changes have on population trends are rare.2.We combine a state-space population modelling approach with an analysis of quota decisions taken at both regional and national levels between 2007 and 2018 to build a set of decision-making models that together predict annual harvest quota values for Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Norway. 3.We reveal a tendency for administrative decision-makers to compensate for consistent quota increases by political actors, particularly when the lynx population size estimate is above the regional target. Using population forecasts based on the ensemble of decision-making models, we show that such buffering of political biases ensures lynx population size remains close to regional and national targets in the long-term.4.Our results go beyond the usual qualitative assessment of decentralised governance systems for carnivore management, revealing a system of checks and balances that, in the case of lynx in Norway, ensures both multi-stakeholder participation and sustainable harvest quotas. 5.Our work provides a predictive framework to evaluate co-participatory decision-making processes in wildlife management, paving the way for scientists and decision-makers to collaborate more widely in identifying where decision biases might lie and how institutional arrangements can be optimised to minimise them. We emphasise, however, that this is only possible if wildlife management decisions are documented and transparent.

Author(s):  
Jian Li ◽  
Li-li Niu ◽  
Qiongxia Chen ◽  
Zhong-xing Wang

AbstractHesitant fuzzy preference relations (HFPRs) have been widely applied in multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) for their ability to efficiently express hesitant information. To address the situation where HFPRs are necessary, this paper develops several decision-making models integrating HFPRs with the best worst method (BWM). First, consistency measures from the perspectives of additive/multiplicative consistent hesitant fuzzy best worst preference relations (HFBWPRs) are introduced. Second, several decision-making models are developed in view of the proposed additive/multiplicatively consistent HFBWPRs. The main characteristic of the constructed models is that they consider all the values included in the HFBWPRs and consider the same and different compromise limit constraints. Third, an absolute programming model is developed to obtain the decision-makers’ objective weights utilizing the information of optimal priority weight vectors and provides the calculation of decision-makers’ comprehensive weights. Finally, a framework of the MCDM procedure based on hesitant fuzzy BWM is introduced, and an illustrative example in conjunction with comparative analysis is provided to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed models.


Author(s):  
William B. Rouse

Chapter 1 provides the introduction to this book. Predictions can seldom specify what will happen, so, inevitably, one addresses what might happen. There are often many possible futures, with leading indicators and potential tipping points for each scenario. Computational models can be used to explore designs of systems and policies to determine whether these designs will likely be effective and to aid in decision-making. Models are means to ends rather then ends in themselves. Decision-makers seldom crave models. They want their questions answered in an evidence-based manner. Decision-makers want insights that provide them with a competitive advantage. They want to understand possible futures to formulate robust and resilient strategies for addressing these futures.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Li ◽  
Li-li Niu ◽  
Qiongxia Chen ◽  
Zhong-xing Wang

Abstract To address the situation where the incomplete hesitant fuzzy preference relation (IHFPR) is necessary, this paper develops decision-making models based on decision makers’ satisfaction degree with IHFPR. First, the consistency measures from the perspectives of additive and multiplicative consistent IHFPR are defined based on the relationships between the IHPFRs and their corresponding priority weight vector, respectively. Second, two decision-making models are developed in view of the proposed additive and multiplicative consistency measures. The main characteristic of the constructed model sarethey taking into account the decision makers’ satisfaction degree. The objective functions of the models are developed by maximizing the parameter of satisfaction degree. Third, a square programming model is developed to obtain the decision makers’ weights byutilizing the optimal priority weight vectors information, the solution of the model is obtained by solving the partial derivatives ofLagrange function.Finally, a procedure for multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems with IHFPRs is given, and an illustrative example in conjunction with comparative analysis is used to demonstrate the proposed models are feasible and efficiency for practical MCDM problems.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Anaï Mangos ◽  
Juliette Rouchier ◽  
Yves Meinard

Summary Key to bridging knowing–doing gaps is analysis of the constraints binding interactions between decision-makers and conservation biologists to clarify the problems they address. We apply this analysis to decision situations in the Northern Vosges (France), which illustrate three kinds of constraints: governance, framework and initiative. We explore how conservation biologists can mitigate constraints so as to foster more ambitious conservation actions in each case. The first case explores attempts at reintroducing the lynx (Lynx lynx). In this case, we show that governance plays a key role, in the sense that conservation actions should focus on improving the acceptability of reintroductions to key stakeholders. The second case refers to water monitoring schemes. Here we show that framing is the dominant constraint. This means that conservation actions are tightly limited by the use of a restrictive scientific apparatus. The last case study, fish stock protection, is constrained by initiative. Here, decision-makers have too much leverage to implement solutions they favour, even if they are not the best options in conservation terms. Exploring how our framework relates to the existing literature allows us to highlight its usefulness for rationalizing conservation problem framing and for strengthening the ambitions of conservation actions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-163
Author(s):  
Keith Thompson

This article summarises Professor Martin Krygier's work on the rule of law and his view that arbitrariness is its core and is under-theorised. From ancient philosophy, the author suggests that our rule of law settlement feels tentative because arbitrariness is a human characteristic that cannot be completely fixed with institutional checks and balances. The author observes that a variety of rule of law virtues are already expected of judicial decision-makers and suggests that these institutional virtues should be transferred into the administrative, executive and corporate decision-making space to advance the rule of law project.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-268
Author(s):  
Breno Augusto Diniz Pereira ◽  
Mauri Leodir Lobler ◽  
Eugênio De Oliveira Simonetto

The rationality has been defined from the Greeks as one of the main characteristic that distinguishes man from the other animals. The Greeks ‘influence like Plato and Aristotle and the philosophers empiricist /rationalist,as Descartes and Thomas Hobbes, were remarkable for the formation of models of decision making in organizations proposed by Simon, Allison and Lindblon. This study aims to identify the mainly decision making models and check how the cognitive aspects can affect the behavior of the agents involved in the process. The results show that there is no way to overlook the subjective factors, the different cognitive styles in the decision, there is a system of relations between the elements of nature objective and subjective elements,whichever is the predominant influence of the values of decision makers involved, which is seen as a motivator for the decision.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Addison Pan ◽  
Simona Fabrizi ◽  
Steffen Lippert

Abstract We relax the standard assumptions in collective decision-making models that voters can not only derive a perfect view about the accuracy of the information at their disposal before casting their votes, but can, in addition, also correctly assess other voters’ views about it. We assume that decision-makers hold potentially differing views, while remaining ignorant about such differences, if any. In this setting, we find that information aggregation works well with voting rules other than simple majority: as voters vote less often against their information than in conventional models, they can deliver higher-quality decisions, including in the canonical 12 jurors case. We obtain voting equilibria with many instances, in which other voting rules, including unanimity, clearly outperform simple majority.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 4041-4058
Author(s):  
Fang Liu ◽  
Xu Tan ◽  
Hui Yang ◽  
Hui Zhao

Intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations (IFPRs) have the natural ability to reflect the positive, the negative and the non-determinative judgements of decision makers. A decision making model is proposed by considering the inherent property of IFPRs in this study, where the main novelty comes with the introduction of the concept of additive approximate consistency. First, the consistency definitions of IFPRs are reviewed and the underlying ideas are analyzed. Second, by considering the allocation of the non-determinacy degree of decision makers’ opinions, the novel concept of approximate consistency for IFPRs is proposed. Then the additive approximate consistency of IFPRs is defined and the properties are studied. Third, the priorities of alternatives are derived from IFPRs with additive approximate consistency by considering the effects of the permutations of alternatives and the allocation of the non-determinacy degree. The rankings of alternatives based on real, interval and intuitionistic fuzzy weights are investigated, respectively. Finally, some comparisons are reported by carrying out numerical examples to show the novelty and advantage of the proposed model. It is found that the proposed model can offer various decision schemes due to the allocation of the non-determinacy degree of IFPRs.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suci Handayani Handayani ◽  
Hade Afriansyah

Decision making is one element of economic value, especially in the era of globalization, and if it is not acceptable in the decision making process, we will be left behind. According to Robins, (2003: 173), Salusu, (2000: 47), and Razik and Swanson, (1995: 476) say that decision making can be interpreted as a process of choosing a number of alternatives, how to act in accordance with concepts, or rules in solving problems to achieve individual or group goals that have been formulated using a number of specific techniques, approaches and methods and achieve optimal levels of acceptance.Decision making in organizations whether a decision is made for a person or group, the nature of the decision is often determined by rules, policies, prescribed, instructions that have been derived or practices that apply. To understand decision making within the organization it is useful to view decision making as part of the overall administrative process. In general, individuals tend to use simple strategies, even if in any complex matter, to get the desired solution, because the solution is limited by imperfect information, time and costs, limited thinking and psychological stress experienced by decision makers.


Author(s):  
Rasol Murtadha Najah

This article discusses the application of methods to enhance the knowledge of experts to build a decision-making model based on the processing of physical data on the real state of the environment. Environmental parameters determine its ecological state. To carry out research in the field of expert assessment of environmental conditions, the analysis of known works in this field is carried out. The results of the analysis made it possible to justify the relevance of the application of analytical, stochastic models and models based on methods of enhancing the knowledge of experts — experts. It is concluded that the results of using analytical and stochastic objects are inaccurate, due to the complexity and poor mathematical description of the objects. The relevance of developing information support for an expert assessment of environmental conditions is substantiated. The difference of this article is that based on the analysis of the application of expert methods for assessing the state of the environment, a fuzzy logic adoption model and information support for assessing the environmental state of the environment are proposed. The formalization of the parameters of decision-making models using linguistic and fuzzy variables is considered. The formalization of parameters of decision-making models using linguistic and fuzzy variables was considered. The model’s description of fuzzy inference is given. The use of information support for environment state assessment is shown on the example of experts assessing of the land desertification stage.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document