Combined Use of Goal Programming and the Analytic Hierarchy Process in Forest Management

Abstract

Ihis paper presents an analytical framework for forest management taking into account the multi pli city of criteria and decision makers usually present when solving these kinds of decision-making problems. Ihe procedure combines Goal Programming (GP) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In this way, the preferential weights incorporated into the GP model are derived from the application of the AHP method to a group of decision-makers. A key feature of the procedure lies in the ease-of-use and transparent utility interpretation ofthe solutions obtained. All the theoretical developments were applied to the "Dehesa de la Garganta" forest in the Segovia Mountains ("Sistema Central"), with an area of2112 hectares covered with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).