Sustainability in Rangeland Systems: Introduction of Fuzzy Multi Objective Decision Making

Abstract

It is widely recognized that approaching sustainability in rangeland management needs to take many criteria into consideration which unavoidably calls for the application of multi-criteria decision making approach. Bearing conflicting objectives in mind, which are mainly conservation and utilization, we have introduced fuzzy multi-objectives decision making as a suitable approach when sustainability in rangeland management is a goal. While some extensions of the approach are discussed, interactive fuzzy multi objective linear programming, and a framework including three stages are presented to make it more applicable. The proposed approach in this paper comprises three important advantages for decision makers to apply: first, it is a useful tool to involve trade-offs analysis between the conflicting objectives; second, it challenges to uncertainty of any decision in sustainable rangeland management; and third, it considers existing alternatives under given constraints by developing new alternatives for all possible situations.

Keywords: Rangeland, fuzzy logic, MCDM, MODM, sustainability, conservation, utilization