MultCSync: a software package for incorporating multiple criteria in conservation planning

MultCSync is a software package designed to aid incorporation of multiple criteria into conservation planning though it can be used in other similar contexts. During such planning, conservation area networks are selected primarily to represent biodiversity but must: (i) incorporate spatial design criteria such as size, dispersion, and connectivity of individual areas; and (ii) negotiate competing social claims on land use including recreation, resource extraction, and development. The social claims can also usually be modeled as (potentially incompatible) criteria to be simultaneously optimized along with the spatial design criteria. MultCSync enables the prioritization of alternative networks on the basis of such criteria after all biodiversity representation targets are satisfied. It begins by computing the set of non-dominated alternatives. If this set is sufficiently small, these alternatives can be presented to political decision makers. However, if this set is intractably large, further prioritization among the non-dominated alternatives is necessary. MultCSync accomplishes this prioritization using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as well as a modification of the AHP in accordance with multi-attribute value theory (MAVT). MultCSync is freely downloadable via the world wide web and can be used in conjunction with different place prioritization software packages.