Database of Environmental Decision Support Tools

Abstract

This chapter investigates modeling and data sources for environmental decision support for local authorities and private managers. A metadatabase of 198 computerized environmental decision tools was collected using a questionnaire with two sequential web-pages of 4+16 questions (http://tess.ttu.ee/). Half of the software applications are freely downloadable and well described online. The database contains 42 references reported as forestry tools, 50 as agriculture or apiculture tools, and 15 targeting to either amenity areas or tourism and access-based recreation. The most domain-general toolbox, InVEST, integrates models which support management of natural capital, including pollination of crops and production of timber, but is limited in types of natural capital and management situations. Agricultural toolboxes DSSAT and MicroLEIS cover soil quality issues well but ignore management of agricultural landscapes where natural and semi-natural habitats provide wild crop pollination, biocontrol of pests, and other services. The most prominent sustainable forestry toolboxes are UBC-FM and NED-2. The latter contains simulation models and qualitative knowledge bases, but complex forest management conditions require more flexible metamodeling approaches. For the management of recreational sites, no integrated toolkit exists. As most of the existing environmental tools support option assessment, future development should address also earlier decision-making steps.