Decision analysis interviews in environmental impact assessment

The decision analysis interview-method is presented and experiences in applying it to the assessment of the environmental impacts of two water development projects are reported. The aim of the interviews was to clarify the opinions of different stakeholders and to increase public participation in planning. There were 59 personal and computer aided interviews. The computer program HIPRE 3+ used for the value-tree analysis is simple and flexible to use. It gives the possibility to combine different prioritization methods and the results can easily be presented in graphic form. Our case studies proved that decision analysis interviews can well be used in assessing the importance of environment impacts. It is a useful way of improving stakeholders' participation in environmental decision making and it provides a systematic way of dealing with conflicting opinions.