COORDINATION
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, New University of Lisbon PORTUGAL
PARTICIPANTS
-- Department of Environmental Studies, University of the Aegean GREECE
-- Institute for the Protection and the Security of Citizens. EC J.R.C. – Ispra ITALY
-- The Macaulay Institute. University of Aberdeen UNITED KINGDOM
-- Economic and Social Institute. Free University of Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS
-- Departament of Human Geography. University of Seville SPAIN
END-USERS
1) Institute of Water – INAG PORTUGAL
2) NA.ET.KY. Regional Development Agency of Cyclades GREECE
3) General Secretary for Water. Regional Goverment of Andalucia SPAIN
ADVISOR Contract EVK1-CT-2000-00074
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RTD PROGRAMME
The project aimed to produce a set of guidelines to river basin
authorities and related EU agencies for the execution of integrated
evaluation of projects.
IA links scientific processes to the social and institutional context of decisionmaking.
IA objects are characterised by uncertainties, values in dispute, high stakes,
conflicts and frecuently urgent decisions.
IA involves a broad range of scientific and lay practioners who are connected to
the users of the assessment product.
ADVISOR Contract EVK1-CT-2000-00074
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RTD PROGRAMME
At the first stage, the project was built on the ex-post analysis of the
strengths and weaknesses of river basin project evaluation processes in
the EU.
The 5 case studies at this stage were:
Country
1. Greece
Project
Evinos reservoir
2. United Kingdom Ythan NVZ
3. Netherlands
Grensmaas
4. Portugal
Alqueva Dam
5. Spain
Rio Ebro Water
Transfer
Description
Increase potable water supply for Athens by damming River
Evinos
Designation of River Ythan & estuary as Nitrate Vulnerable Zone
to reduce agricultural loss of nitrate & improve water quality to
protect sites of high nature value
Improve flood defence, create natural areas & extract gravel
through restoration of River Meuse channel & floodplain
Improve irrigation & develop Alentejo region through construction
of Alqueva Dam on River Guadiana
To improve balance in national water resources by abstraction from
Rio Ebro & transfer to Mediterranean coast
Evaluation Practices: concluding remarks (1)
Characteristics of the decision making process (1)
a)
Accuracy: all studies report high scientific uncertainties and
inconclusive nature of scientific evidence.
b)
Completeness: all case studies seem to be bound by great
omissions of information.
c)
Sources of information: very little if any info coming from social
research.
d)
Not enough verification and colleague consensus about
sources. Reliability of information is not consensual.
e)
Low degree of acceptance by the non-scientific communities.
Evaluation Practices: concluding remarks (2)
Characteristics of the decision making process (2)
f) Assessment is not really considered as an independent , even less
previous, stage in the design of the projects.
g) Evaluation constitutes a basically informal and iterative process,
sometimes diffuse, throughout the entire project life, even throughout the
post-decisional stage.
h) The implicit strategy, strongly incorporated into the project design, makes it
difficult if not impossible to discuss global alternatives.
i) The complexity of ecological and social processes tends to be simplified by the
starting diagnosis, which is basically incomplete.
Evaluation Practices: concluding remarks (3)
Implications for the development of evaluation theory
The assessment processes, both formal and informal, are dominated by the
existing hegemony (dominant stakeholder nets and perspectives), resulting in
a narrow and incomplete problem diagnosis and in proposals which
ignore high levels of scientific uncertainty.
The complexity and inherently political nature of the decision making process,
demands that the full range of values and beliefs is considered in a context
where social and technical incommensurability is recognised.
This requires the development of assessment tools and methodologies that
go beyond conventional scientific assessment, capturing different
perspectives and accommodating uncertainty in both natural and social
systems.
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION
Water management alternatives for improving
urban supply: Costa del Sol Occidental (Málaga,
Spain)
Case study: Costa del Sol
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS
Examination of normative context
Analysis of national and local media
Study of economic and political
processes
Participant observation
Identification of actors
WORKING WITH ACTORS (I):
INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
Problem definition
Identification of alternatives
Identification of criteria
Suggestion of actors to add
INTERPRETATION
MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS
Impact matrix (alternatives/criteria):
technical information and opinion polls
Equity matrix (alternatives/actors)
Dendrogram of coalitions
OF RESULTS
WORKING WITH ACTORS (II):
FOCUS GROUP
Presentation and discussion of results
Diagnosis corroboration
Revision of alternatives and criteria
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS
Examination of normative context
Analysis of national and local media
+ presence in local press
Study of economic and political
processes
Participant observation:
 Foro de Málaga
 Agenda 21 for Málaga province
Identification of actors
ADVISOR in
La Opinión de Málaga
6 July, 2003
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS
Examination of normative context
Analysis of national and local media
Study of economic and political
processes
Participant observation:
 Foro de Málaga
 Agenda 21 for Málaga province
Identification of actors
WORKING WITH ACTORS (I):
INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
Problem definition
Identification of alternatives
Identification of criteria
Suggestion of actors to add
MAIN PROBLEMS
Ineffective river basin administration.
Lack of forward planning and landuse management.
Lack of coordination among the
authorities responsible for water
management and planning.
Weak information and participation
mechanisms.
Definition of
the problem
From shortage of water
to
resource mismanagement
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS
Examination of normative context
Analysis of national and local media
Study of economic and political
processes
Participant observation:
 Foro de Málaga
 Agenda 21 for Málaga province
Identification of actors
WORKING WITH ACTORS (I):
INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
Problem definition
Identification of alternatives
Identification of criteria
Suggestion of actors to add
Alternatives:
Heightening of the La Concepción dam
Use of desalinated water
Reuse of waste water
Modernisation of irrigation systems
Rationalised use of groundwater
Improved efficiency and water savings in the urban water supply
Identification of
Territorial policies to control urban development
Alternatives
Non-intervention: maintenance of status quo
Criteria:
Actions aimed at increasing
Implementation costs
available resources /
Operating costs
Measures to improve
Effect on employment
demand management
Effect on economic activity
Impact on the ecological status of water systems
Criteria
Impact on other ecosystems
Visual impact on the landscape
Economic
Degree of institutional difficulty
Environmental
Degree of social acceptance
Social
Equitable distribution of costs and benefits
Institutional
Time required to fulfil the established objective
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS
Examination of normative context
Analysis of national and local media
Study of economic and political
processes
Participant observation:
 Foro de Málaga
 Agenda 21 for Málaga province
Identification of actors
WORKING WITH ACTORS (I):
INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
Problem definition
Identification of alternatives
Identification of criteria
Suggestion of actors to add
Alternatives:
Heightening of the La Concepción dam
Use of desalinated water
Reuse of waste water
Modernisation of irrigation systems
Rationalised use of groundwater
Improved efficiency and water savings in the urban water supply
Opinion Polls
Territorial policies to control urban development
Non-intervention: maintenance of status quo
Instituto de Estudios
Criteria:
Sociales de Andalucía
Implementation costs
Operating costs
Effect on employment
Ecobarómetro de Andalucía
Effect on economic activity
Impact on the ecological status of water systems
425 polls in:
Impact on other ecosystems
City of Malaga
Visual impact on the landscape
Costa del Sol
Degree of institutional difficulty
Degree of social acceptance
Rest of the province
Equitable distribution of costs and benefits
Time required to fulfil the established objective
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA ANALYSIS
To explore alternatives with appropriate monetary
and non-monetary criteria
 Multi-criteria evaluation as an interface between scientific
and technical issues and the social context to address specific
societal issues.
 NAIADE (Novel Approach to Imprecise Assessment and
Decision Environments) has been chosen.
 NAIADE deals with information affected by different degrees
of uncertainty
 Criteria values can be expressed in the form of: crisp,
stochastic, fuzzy numbers and linguistic expressions
 It generates a ranking of alternatives
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS
Institutional Analysis + Working with actors (I) =
Impact
Matrix
Equity
Matrix
In both cases support to
increasing efficiency and
reutilization of residual water.
In both cases lack of support to
no intervention and hydraulic
works.
Impact matrix (alternatives/criteria):
technical information and opinion polls
Equity matrix (alternatives/actors)
Dendrogram of coalitions
Dendrogram of coalitions
Split between the administrations responsible for
water management (Regional Water Department/
Confederación Hidrográfica del Sur / Costa del Sol
public water supply and sewerage company).
SOCIAL MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION APPLIED IN THE COSTA DEL SOL CASE STUDY
Institutional Analysis + Working with actors (I)
+ Multicriteria Analysis =
WORKING WITH ACTORS (II):
FOCUS GROUP
Presentation and discussion of results
Diagnosis corroboration
Revision of alternatives and criteria
Main results:
1. Stakeholders suggested the
inclusion of new alternatives.
2. Following an open debate, one of
these alternatives (reforestation)
figured among those receiving most
support from the participants.
Focus Group
December 2003
The main results of the exercise can be synthesised as follows:

Improved the quality and effectiveness of the information
interchange and the reflection process

it contributed to clarifying the nature of conflicts and creating
the conditions necessary to construct a dialogue process

it opened the social debate on water resource allocation and
mapped all the implications and interests involved

it stimulated the formulation of innovative diagnosis and
alternatives
FINAL CONCLUSIONS
Deliberative decision processes will be successful only if it
really matters. Outcomes of deliberative processes should be
clearly embedded in real decision-making.
More than one tools and types of representation/participation
should be used together to overcome the limitations of any
given representation form.
Deliberative decision-making is not proposed as an alternative
but as a complement to legitimate representative democracy
structures.
Evaluation is closely dependent on the social and
institutional surroundings and on the balance of power
among actors, habitually affected by an increasing
polarization.
Still, reciprocally deliberative processes can build up an
Impetus for changes in the broader social context.