The decision support system GMCR in environmental conflict management

The graph model for conflict resolution is put forward as a unique decision technology for systematically studying strategic conflicts that can arise in environmental management and elsewhere. This flexible conflict resolution methodology has solid and realistic mathematical foundations which permit it to model strategic decisions accurately, forecast compromise solutions, and assist in assessing the political, economic, environmental, and social viability of alternative scenarios to resolving environmental conflicts. To permit practitioners to conveniently apply the graph model for conflict resolution to practical real-world conflict problems, a ne iv decision support system called GMCR II (Graph Model for Conflict Resolution II) is designed. To explain the basic structure of GMCR II and how it works in practice, this paper describes its use to model and analyze an international environmental management dispute that took place in North America. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.