Jason Papathanasiou

Identifying governance strategies that effectively support ecosystem services, resource sustainability, and biodiversity

Conservation scientists, national governments, and international conservation groups seek to devise, and implement, governance strategies that mitigate human impact on the environment. However, few studies to date have systematically investigated the performance of different systems of governance in achieving successful conservation outcomes. Here, we use a newly-developed analytic framework to conduct analyses of a suite of case studies, linking different governance strategies to standardized scores for delivering ecosystem services, achieving sustainable use of natural resources, and conserving biodiversity, at both local and international levels. Our results: (i) confirm the benefits of adaptive management; and (ii) reveal strong associations for the role of leadership. Our work provides a critical step toward implementing empirically justified governance strategies that are capable of improving the management of human-altered environments, with benefits for both biodiversity and people.

A multicriteria model for planning agricultural regions within a context of groundwater rational management

Current international research focuses on topics like sustainable development, regional planning, environmental decision making and implementation, biodiversity conservation plus a number of other relevant issues, especially at times of economic crisis as today. Economic growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand, provided that decision makers develop and use tools and insights targeting in the implementation of successful and robust long term policies. This paper was developed in the framework of a European research project and implements a Multicriteria Mathematical Programming model that optimises the sustainable management of agricultural regions taking in account the available resources (land, labour, capital) and environmental parameters (agrochemicals, water consumption). The model achieves the optimum farm plan in the area combining different criteria to a utility function under a set of constraints and the spatial integration of the vulnerability maps of the regions into the model enables the regional authorities to design policies for the optimal agricultural development and the groundwater protection from the agricultural land uses. Furthermore, the model is used to simulate different scenarios and policies by the local stakeholders, due to changes on different social, economic and environmental parameters. In this way the decision makers can achieve alternative farm plans and agricultural land uses as well as to estimate economic, social and environmental impacts of different policies. The model has been applied to an agricultural region in Northern Greece and proved to be a valuable tool in the implementation of environmental policies and actions, especially in agricultural regions in a delicate balance as the study area.

A DSS for sustainable development and environmental protection of agricultural regions

This paper presents a decision support system (DSS) for sustainable development and environmental protection of agricultural regions developed in the framework of the Interreg-Archimed project entitled WaterMap (development and utilization of vulnerability maps for the monitoring and management of groundwater resources in the ARCHIMED areas). Its aim is to optimize the production plan of an agricultural region taking in account the available resources, the environmental parameters, and the vulnerability map of the region. The DSS is based on an optimization multicriteria model. The spatial integration of vulnerability maps in the DSS enables regional authorities to design policies for optimal agricultural development and groundwater protection from the agricultural land uses. The DSS can further be used to simulate different scenarios and policies by the local stakeholders due to changes on different social, economic, and environmental parameters. In this way, they can achieve alternative production plans and agricultural land uses as well as to estimate economic, social, and environmental impacts of different policies. The DSS is computerized and supported by a set of relational databases. The corresponding software has been developed in a Microsoft Windows XP platform, using Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Access, and the LINDO library. For demonstration reasons, the paper includes an application of the DSS in a region of Northern Greece.

A Decision Support System Approach for Rivers Monitoring and Sustainable Management

This paper presents a Decision Support System (DSS) approach developed in the context of the Copernicus project entitled System for Water Monitoring and Sustainable Management based on Ground Stations and Satellite Images (WATERMAN). The main objective of WATERMAN is the monitoring and management of the Strymon River in the Southern Balkans. The specific DSS integrates the main components of WATERMAN and helps the decision maker to monitor the Strymon region; to control and forecast the quantity and quality of the river water; as well as to make objective decisions about the state of the water based on data provided by radio computers, earth stations and satellite images processed by mathematical and statistical models and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

A multicriteria analysis of productivity of agricultural regions of Greece

A methodology is proposed as a tool of comparison of productivity and ranking of agricultural regions. The specific methodology takes into account more than one category of criteria-variables and it is applied in two stages. In the first stage the more important variables-criteria are selected from a set of variables-criteria using the Factor Analysis of Correspondences and at the second stage the ranking takes place with the application of PROMETHEE II multicriteria analysis method. This methodology was applied for the comparison of productivity and the ranking of the five prefectures of East Macedonia and Thrace in Greece, based on the most important agricultural products of these areas. The results showed that in the period 1990-1999 the prefecture of Kavala surpasses on the productivity and follows, in second place, the prefecture of Rodopi. The prefectures of Evros, Xanthi and Drama posses respectively the firth, fourth and fifth place.

Design of a data-driven environmental decision support system and testing of stakeholder data-collection

The aims of this paper are to present the requirements and top level design of a decision support system that facilitates the exchange of environmental information between local level and higher levels of government, as well as to assess the possibility to include the local individual in the decision making process. The design of a tool for data collection and exchange of available data also aims to predict impacts of small-scale locally oriented actions by the local administration and residents on incomes and biodiversity, monitor results of the decisions that follow such prediction and inform central policy assessors to enable appropriate tuning of regulatory and fiscal incentives. The potential of data gathering for use in a DSS was tested by case studies across Europe. The main challenges for implementing effective environmental decision support are now more socio-economic than technical, requiring also a more local-orientated attitude of researchers and government.

Support of irrigation water use and eco-friendly decision process in agricultural production planning

Abstract In this paper a Multiple Criteria Mathematical Programming model has been developed integrating vulnerability maps; its purpose is to optimize and facilitate the decision making process relating to the problems of water management, land use and environmental protection. The model is used to support irrigation water use and eco-friendly decision processes in agricultural production planning. It has been developed in the context of the research project entitled EU Water (transnational integrated management of water resources in agriculture for European water emergency control). For accessing the vulnerability of agricultural land to water and nitrogen losses, a set of indices were utilised. It was implemented in the Sarigkiol basin in the north-eastern part of the Kozani prefecture in Northern Greece, combining different criteria to a utility function under a set of constraints concerning different categories of labour, land, available capital, etc. On the same time the model is taking into account the vulnerability maps which have been developed for the area. The aim of the study was to achieve optimum crop plans in the aforementioned area and it was further used to simulate different scenarios and policies, due to changes on different social, economic and environmental parameters (e.g. different levels of chemicals or water consumption per crop). The decision maker can get alternative production plans and agricultural land uses as well as the social, economic and environmental impact of different policies. Results show that the model can be considered as an important planning tool enabling the regional authorities to design optimal spatial development policies and protect groundwater from the excessive fertilizer and other pollution agents use.

A DSS for planning the agricultural production

In this paper, the agroPLAN decision support system (DSS) is presented; agroPLAN is a DSS for the planning of agricultural production in agricultural holdings or in agricultural areas. It is one of the main farm management applications of the agroGOV.gr portal. The utilisation of the agroPLAN DSS supports the farmer-manager in the difficult process of farm management and decision-making. In particular, agroPLAN simulates different scenarios and policies and proposes alternative production plans. It is based on a multicriteria mathematical programming model and can achieve the optimum agricultural production plan in a farm or in an agricultural area combining different criteria to a utility function under a set of constraints concerning different categories of land, labour, available capital, etc. The objective of this application is to help the farmer-user to gain control of the external environment with easy access to knowledge and information.

Simulation of impacts of irrigated agriculture on income, employment and environment

This paper uses a multicriteria mathematical programming model to estimate the farmer’s utility function and simulate different scenarios and policies as well as to make alternative production plans. Application of this model was carried out in the irrigated region of the Xanthi Prefecture in Greece, as well as to three different farm clusters. The three farm clusters -small, medium and large sizes- were the result of a cluster analysis into a sample of farms of the region. In all these four cases, we considered three criteria for the estimation of the utility function; the maximization of total gross margin, the minimization of its variance and the minimization of labor. The estimated utility functions were used as objective functions of Linear or Quadratic (when the variance is considered) Programming models in order to find the optimum production plan of the total region and each farm size separately. These models were used to simulate the impacts on the production plan, income, employment and the environment due to a policy, which increases the price of irrigation water.

An approximation algorithm for the location of dairy enterprises under time constraints

Abstract The facility location problem constitutes a major part of the strategic planning of a dairy enterprise. The decision making process for such a long term investment is rather complicated, with many of the issues involved belonging to the NP – Hard class of algorithms and therefore the challenge for operational researchers who attempt to mathematically model the problem is significant. A number of models have appeared in the last few years in an attempt to find a solution to the problem. This paper introduces a model pertaining to saturated and competitive markets, which include a high investment risk as well as a small margin for incorrect decisions of the newcomers. Time is a crucial element, especially for sensitive products with a limited life span cycle. An approximation algorithm is used and the solution is then compared with the optimal one. Emphasis was given to the running time of the software program, both in the designing and the implementation of the algorithm.