Developing decision-support tools for cumulative effects management

View report

Managing cumulative effects in the coastal environment is challenging. Decision-support tools can be useful for informing resource management decision-making, providing they meet certain prerequisites and requirements and are scoped appropriately.

This report presents a conceptual decision-support tool structure. We identified five principles aimed at optimising the effectiveness of decision-support tools by enabling robust validation, encouraging uptake by decision-makers, and more strategically addressing scientific knowledge gaps. The ability to validate decision-support tools is improved if development starts with comparatively simple tools and if complexity is gradually added. The likelihood of implementation is maximised by working with decision-makers in the selection of tools to support resource management processes. Systematically compiling information gaps during the decision-support tool development could inform a more strategic approach towards addressing scientific knowledge gaps related to managing cumulative effects.