Tools for Better Decision Making: Bridges from Science to Policy - Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Ecosystems - page 274

payments and biodiversity conservation) and insufficient attention paid to
ecosystem linkages, and linkages between the environment and society. Attempts
are being made to address these challenges by implementing an ecosystem
approach in both research and policy formulation.
Finally, the general public will need general information about water quality and
water quantity problems and how climate change may affect water quality and
water quantity. Such information would enable citizens to follow the debate around
water policy making and implementation and make them more responsive to policy
instruments. Generally, transparent decision making tends to increase legitimacy of
the decisions made. This assessment, therefore, points to the need for a diverse set
of tools and methods for the communication of scientific knowledge.
The role of Decision Support Systems
Given the challenge of integrating science into decision making, techniques are
needed that can help decision makers balance social, economic and environmental
objectives. Such tools should include Decision Support Systems (DSS). Recently a
number of reviews of the use of DSS in water management have been carried out
by, for example, Horlitz (2006), Evers (2008) and Giupponi et al . (2007). The
latter developed 'Guidelines for the development, implementation and application
of DSS tools'. A common conclusion of all three works is that users of DSS tools
should be involved in their development from the outset. Ideally, they would be
involved in financing development projects as a way of increasing their motivation
to both develop useful tools and subsequently use them. Many such development
projects have encountered problems through lack of practical expertise in support
of the research team. This is one of the reasons for the frequent failure of take-up
of DSS tools by water managers and policy makers (Giupponi et al . 2007). Steps
can be taken (Fig. 11.4) to improve this situation. Ideally, designers and users
should meet at the start to discuss the objectives and contact should be maintained
throughout. Funding for workshops and other expenses is needed and training of
users in use of the DSS should start as early as possible.
In some cases there are unforeseen limits to the levels of cooperation that is
possible between designers and intended users. Currently water managers are
busy implementing the WFD and are very reluctant to take on the additional
work of incorporating other considerations, such as the possible consequences of
global change. This is perhaps where scientists have to take the lead and emphasize
the extent and implications of the evidence now accumulated.
The Euro-limpacs Decision Support System
As part of the Euro-limpacs project, a DSS has been developed to evaluate
catchment management strategies in the context of climate change. The DSS
provides a GIS-based framework for integrating social, environmental and
economic data through Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA). The DSS is implemented
as an extension within the computer program ArcGIS. The resulting framework
is intended to address specific and targeted management questions such as: