NRM tools: a flexible decision support environment for integrated catchment management

Abstract Decision making in natural resource management is characterised by complex decisions based on incomplete data. Furthermore, the structure of the decision-making process tends to be unstable, being highly context specific. Investment in specific and tightly focused decision support systems in this context may often not be justified. A prototype software toolkit. NRM Tools, designed to provide flexible decision support in this context, the use of which can evolve as tasks and understanding evolve, is described. The defining feature of NRM Tools is that it is designed to allow decision makers in natural resource management to develop new decision support tools to address new tasks through recombination of existing data resources and analytical tools (models and inference engines for example). This is achieved through the use of a task language comprising a set of primitives (functions for data access, analysis and presentation) and a set of control structures for combination of those primitives.