Multicriteria and Critical Threshold Value Analyses in Assessing Sustainable Forestry

Abstract This paper presents different models designed to operationalize the principle of forest sustainability. Concepts such as resource or environmental utilization space, carrying capacity, and critical thresholds are defined. The paper also describes an application of the qualitative and quantitative multicriteria models in assessing forest sus-tainability. Sustainability analysis was done in three stages: Stage 1 involves the development of an appropriate set of criteria and indicators (C&I); Stage 2 involves the use of multicriteria analysis (MCA) models for estimating relative importance of each C&I; and Stage 3 involves the qualitative and quantitative assessment of each C&I. The qualitative model is based on a simple flagging method where C&I elements are evaluated and assigned appropriate flag colors depending on the experts' judgments on their criticality. Similarly, the same set of C&I elements were also evaluated quantitatively using a scaled scoring system. These models were applied in a case study involving a community-managed forest in the Philippines. An assessment team consisting of representatives from various disciplines, local institutions, and local stakeholders was organized and served as the expert team that provided the assessment information used in the analysis. Feedback received from the assessors indicate that the models were found to be useful, transparent, and helpful tools not only in generating relevant sets of C&I, but more importantly, in evaluating these C&I with respect to overall forest sustain-ability.