An approach to public-participation in strategic forest management planning

An application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is presented for taking public preferences into account in choosing the management strategy for a forest area. An illustrative example of the use of the approach is given, and some experiences in practical planning at Ruunaa conservation area in Eastern Finland are discussed. The approach can be applied to representative, as well as to participatory democracy approaches. The use of the approach is mainly discussed with regard to representative democracy. In the representative approach, a level of players consisting of interest groups is added into the decision hierarchy, just above the level of decision objectives. In the participatory approach, the level of players consists of citizens. By applying the approach, valuable information can be obtained about public values and their effects on the choice of management strategy as well as about possibilities to attain a compromise between conflicting interests.