Fuzzy multiple criteria decision making for natural resource projects

A common problem faced by decision makers is choosing the best alternative from among many. Traditionally, such decisions in the public arena were made using benefit–cost analysis, which involves the conversion of all costs and benefits associated with a project into monetary terms. But public projects are often based on a variety of economic, ecological, social and political objectives, many of which cannot or perhaps should not be converted to monetary terms. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM), which allows decision makers to base decisions not only on cost, but on other relevant objectives as well, is suggested as a preferable approach in these cases. This paper presents two such methods, namely the Fuzzy Set method (FSM) and the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. The SAW method was chosen as a bench-mark due its popularity, and the second method was developed using fuzzy set theory as an alternative approach to MCDM problems. The methods were applied on a data set from the Columbia River Basin salmon recovery plan to assess their potential usefulness as decision making tools for natural resource projects. The results suggest that these methods are capable of handling economic as well as other relevant criteria in the decision making process.