Methods and Models for Environmental Conflicts Analysis and Resolution

This thesis is a description of a particular approach to the analysis and resolution of environmental conflicts. Within this framework we have presented a certain number of models as well as a certain number of methods and procedures with an heavy descriptive value but also with some normative value. On the other hand, this thesis is not a general and exhaustive description of the methods for the analysis and resolution of environmental conflicts nor it contains a full and exhaustive analysis of the literature in this area. Moreover this thesis is not a collection of turnkey recipes that can be used to analyze and resolve a particular environmental problem. An outline of the thesis The present thesis is composed by seven chapters and three short appendices. The first chapter presents the general frameworks of the thesis, defines its motivations and aims, frames some basic concepts and describes both the adopted attitudes and the proposed narratives. The second chapter is devoted essentially to an analysis of the various types of actors and of their interrelations as well as to a presentation of the various perspectives that represent the families of models we discuss in chapters 5 and 6. In the third chapter we provide a detailed critical analysis of System Dynamics as a cognitive tool that acts as a background of the whole thesis though it is mentioned explicitly only in chapter 6. The fourth chapter contains a presentation of two family of protocols (auctions and barters) that we propose both as autonomous tools and as ancillary tools of other protocols. The fifth chapter contains the analysis of the ways through which a coalition of heterogeneous deciders may form in order to define a solution to a common problem. The chapter contains an iterative procedure made of two phases (a static setting phase and a dynamic setting phase) that can be executed repeatedly by the deciders until they reach a satisfactory solution. The sixth chapter contains a description of the procedures and methods through which two or more deciders can enter into competition among themselves on two or more competing projects in order to possibly select one of them and, lastly, share among themselves the costs and benefits associated to the selected project. In the seventh chapter we draw some conclusions, list some open problems and underline some topics worth of further research efforts. The appendices aim at making this thesis as self contained as possible and therefore they contain some of the concepts we refer to in the main chapters but that we preferred to put there so to avoid cluttering too much those chapters. For these reasons we put a brief analysis of some concepts of System Dynamics in Appendix A, a description of some concepts of Decision Theory in Appendix B and a small bunch of concepts of Game Theory in Appendix C.