ABSTRACT
Before delving into case studies and specific methods (which is the focus of the rest of the book), we take a moment here to look at the environmental applications of MCDA to give a broad context. Our motivation for undertaking this study is to understand what methods are being successfully applied in recent years, and where. Examining recent trends is useful not only for identifying where one might find success and a good use of specific methods and approaches, but also to try to understand the reasons for these trends so as to improve the effectiveness of applications going forward. An additional goal of this chapter is to provide the database (as an Excel spreadsheet) of published literature in the field and allow readers to find papers that may be similar to a specific problem at hand.
