The Advantages of Using a Computer-Based Integrated Assessment to Promote Cooperative Behavior in Groundwater Management

Abstract

The ultimate goal of environmental impact assessment is to guarantee that benefits generated by a devel- opment project will not cause highly negative effects on the environment or public health. The fulfillment of this goal depends on the willingness of proponents and society to cooperate. The information manage- ment, its accessibility to community and the educational level of participants are of great relevancy too. Cooperation is not always attainable due to conflicts between individual and community interests. Con- flict leads to a variety of cooperative and non-cooperative responses, depending on the information avail- able to the actors. In order to capture the tendency in which a community perceives the proposals, we in- troduced an information index. We prove that computer models have a direct impact on this information index. This computer-based approach, leads the EIA to the paradigm of adaptive environmental assess- ment and management. To implement this, a system based on artificial intelligence and game theory was used to resolve a study case of conflict in groundwater management.