INTEGRATING HUMANS IN ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT USING MULTI‐CRITERIA DECISION MAKING1

ABSTRACT: The Ecosystem Management (EM) process belongs to the category of Multi‐Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problems. It requires appropriate decision support systems (DSS) where “all interested people” would be involved in the decision making process. Environmental values critical to EM, such as the biological diversity, health, productivity and sustainability, have to be studied, and play an important role in modeling the ecosystem functions; human values and preferences also influence decision making. Public participation in decision and policy making is one of the elements that differentiate EM from the traditional methods of management. Here, a methodology is presented on how to quantify human preferences in EM decision making. The case study of the National Park of River Nestos Delta and Lakes Vistonida and Ismarida in Greece, presented as an application of this methodology, shows that the direct involvement of the public, the quantification of its preferences and the decision maker's attitude provide a strong tool to the EM decision making process. Public preferences have been given certain weights and three MCDM methods, namely, the Expected Utility Method, Compromise Programming and the Analytic Hierarchy Process, have been used to select alternative management solutions that lead to the best configuration of the ecosystem and are also socially acceptable.     

The concept of participatory local sustainability projects in seven Chinese villages

SUCCESS was a scientific, multi-disciplinary case study of seven selected villages in China, coordinated by the Viennese research institute Oikodrom in which I have been a team member for 6 years. We assembled an international team of researchers to work together with local team leaders with the aim of involving village dwellers in a sustainability negotiation process. The project had a strong bottom-up approach, combined with top-down elements. Using participatory research methods, village teams discussed and developed ideas for concrete sustainability-oriented projects in their villages. By the end of the 3-year study of SUCCESS, equipped with the seeds of a multiple-scenario building process and the appropriate funding, each of the seven case study villages had generated ideas for local sustainability-oriented projects and put them into practice. The outcome of this participatory process is manifold. One major impact of the implementation of local projects was their visibility which was crucial for the village dwellers' confidence and their motivation to become engaged in a decision making process. The experience of their successful participation in a decision making process empowered them for self-organisation processes or a civil society process. The small projects offered interesting theoretical insights into how local contexts impact upon village dweller's decision on appropriate sustainability interventions. How they are as well in line with characteristics of different types of villages that were carried out within the study will be shown in this article.     

Negotiation System of Ecological Compensation of Water Source Areas

In view of no generally accepted ecological compensation standards and methods at present,this paper discusses the introduction of the negotiation system to the process of ecological compensation for water source areas.That is,the government in water source areas and the downstream regions of river basins should confirm their respective rights and obligations and then establish their compensation standards through negotiations according to the different purposes of water use.The amount of compensation should be determined in the comprehensive consideration of the quality,quantity and compensation price of water.Through open and fair negotiations,an institutional arrangement will be set up,which can make the water source areas and the downstream regions of river basins fully express their true preferences and their independent choices on the ecological environment.     

When expressions of fake emotions elicit negative reactions: The role of observers' dialectical thinking

Fake displays of emotions are common in social and organizational settings. It is therefore important to understand their consequences. To reconcile mixed previous findings, we develop a model in which the consequences of expressing fake emotions depend on the observers' level of dialectical thinking, a cognitive style characterized by acceptance of inconsistencies. We propose that observers lower, but not higher, on dialectical thinking may infer that interaction partners who fake emotions are untrustworthy and, in turn, react negatively. We found support for our model in 2 studies. In a field fundraising experiment (Study 1), fundraisers who displayed fake (vs. genuine) happiness received smaller monetary donations and elicited lower intentions to volunteer from donors lower, but not higher, on dialectical thinking. In a laboratory negotiation experiment (Study 2), negotiators who displayed fake anger (vs. genuine anger or no emotion) were trusted less and received higher demands from counterparts lower, but not higher, on dialectical thinking. Trust mediated the moderating effect of dialecticism on the relation between fake anger (vs. genuine anger and no emotion) and demands. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.     

全球气候变化框架公约执行中的协商性谈判探讨

1992年联合国通过了《联合国气候变化框架公约》。在同年6月地球首脑会议上,155个国家签署了该公约。随着公约内容的具体化,围绕缔约国之间控制温室气体排放这个主议题,将展开政治、经济、法律、环境诸方面的分工协作以控制全球气候的变化。因此有必要在多边谈判和实施公约的工作中,讨论协商性谈判问题。本文探讨了该问题并就协商性谈判提出一些原则性建议。     

NEGOTIATION TECHNIQUES TO RESOLVE WESTERN WATER DISPUTES1

ABSTRACT: There is a growing literature on the resolution of natural resources conflicts. Much of it is practical, focusing on guidelines for hands-on negotiation. This literature can be a guide in water conflicts. This is especially true for negotiations over new environmental values such as instream flow. The concepts of competitive, cooperative, and integrative styles of conflict resolution are applied to three cases of water resource bargaining. Lessons for the effective use of these ideas include: break a large number of parties into small working groups, approach value differences in small steps, be cautious in the presence of an attentive public, keep decisions at the local level, and understand the opponent's interests.     

用BOT方式组建小型污水处理厂前期谈判初探

介绍了用BOT方式组建小型污水处理厂前期谈判的基本内容,并提出了当事双方在前期谈判中应注意的问题。     

Understanding trust development in negotiations: An interdependent approach

What affects the way that trust develops in negotiations? In two studies, we used an actor–partner interdependence model to investigate how both negotiators' trust propensity prior to the negotiation and two types of behavior during the negotiation affect negotiators' trust development. Study 1 demonstrated that both focal negotiators' (actors') and their counterparts' (partners') trust propensity were positively associated with negotiators' trust development. Study 2 showed that actors' and partners' trust propensity had an indirect effect on trust development via both actors' and partners' negotiation behaviors. Negotiators' trust propensity positively affected their use of Q&A (questions and answers about interests) and negatively affected their use of S&O (substantiation about positions and single‐issue offers). Actors and partners' negotiation behaviors in turn affected their own and their partners' trust development. Our studies propose and test a model to understand how negotiators' trust propensity and negotiation behaviors affect the development of trust in negotiation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The dynamics of strike votes: Perceived justice during collective bargaining

Why do workers decide to go on strike or change their mind during a strike? This field study aims to determine to what extent employees' perceptions of justice formed during the collective bargaining process influence their strike vote. Data were collected from a North American university faculty that went on strike 21 months after the expiration of its collective agreement. The results show that perceived justice about collective bargaining is a determinant of the strike vote. The role played by the employer and the union as a source of (in)justice and the importance of the four types of justice perceptions (procedural, distributive, interpersonal, and informational) vary depending on the context of ballots (initiate, continue, or end the strike). This suggests that the reduction of uncertainty leads to the activation of three different mechanisms: judgmental heuristics (salience), social comparison, and cognitive dissonance. The results also suggest that employees attempt to be as rational as possible when they decide to go on strike. Nevertheless, the decision to join strikers and to continue the strike is partly based on an emotional process: employees use the strike to punish the employer. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of Future Generations： Oriented Virtual Negotiation Support System for Intergenerational Conflict

Intergenerational conflict coordination is the fundamental requirement and core of sustainable development. In this paper, through the analysis of the future generations-oriented management mechanisms for intergenerational conflict, the idea of mechanisms and institution building for the coordination and management of intergenerational conflict is put forward. Furthermore, the future generations-oriented virtual negotiation support system （NSS） for intergenerational conflict is developed, built on the analysis of the process simulation of intergenerational wealth transfer, intergenerational equilibrium allocation of resources, and strategies for the mitigation and avoidance of intergenerational conflict, through the application of advanced IT technology. The virtual NSS for intergenerational conflict is helpful to the practical application of the sustainable development theory; on the other hand, it can be applied directly to the intergenerational equilibrium allocation of resources, national economic accounting, formulation of sustainable development strategies and other urgent national economic and social development issues. Finally, the sustainable development theory can be enriched and extended. Therefore, the development of the future generations-oriented virtual NSS for intergenerational conflict has certain theoretical and practical effects on the theory of sustainable development.