Participative multi-criteria decision analysis in marine management and conservation: Research progress and the challenge of integrating value judgments and uncertainty Rodrigo A. Estévez a,n , Stefan Gelcich a,b a Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Departamento de Ecología Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, O’Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile b Centro de Conservación Marina & Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, O’Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile article info Article history: Received 1 May 2015 Received in revised form 20 June 2015 Accepted 20 June 2015 Available online 3 July 2015 Keywords: Decision making Fisheries Aquaculture Participation Consultation Stakeholder engagement Analytic Hierarchical Process MCDA abstract Managers and practitioners have increasingly applied participative multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in marine multi-objective management situations. Despite methodological advances and prac- tical experiences, there is no systematic review that clarifies the current scope and challenges of parti- cipatory MCDA in fisheries management, aquaculture and marine conservation. Using the ISI Web of Science database, 95 peer-reviewed publications were found that report MCDA applications in marine management (fisheries or aquaculture) and marine conservation. Of these, 31 studies explicitly and systematically incorporate stakeholders’ engagement at one or more stages of the MCDA process. Results show how participative MCDA has been applied in a wide range of marine multi-objective problems. Interestingly, 76% of studies included participation and 24% consultation processes. Most MCDA studies in marine environments were developed in Europe and Asia. Results highlight that despite successful experiences in participative MCDA, participation has been generally fragmented. Participatory processes have focused mainly at particular stages, such as the establishment of objectives and criteria, and eli- citation of weights of importance. Conversely, other important stages of MCDA, such as identifying al- ternatives, estimating consequences or prioritizing management alternatives, exhibited low levels of participation and/or consultation. In addition, results suggest that uncertainties around multiple values judgments are seldom treated in marine MCDA studies. Greater rigor in promoting an active participation in the complete decision process and fully considering the uncertainties around people's value judg- ments are important research gaps, which if addressed, could substantially improve participative MCDA applications aimed at achieving sustainable management and conservation. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As fisheries management and marine conservation evolve to include multiple services, values and stakeholder needs, calls to include participative decision making processes in marine plan- ning are becoming increasingly common [1,2]. To promote stake- holder engagement throughout decision making processes, scho- lars have developed a series of conceptual frameworks and policy design instruments [3,4]. Participative multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a family of decision making protocols aimed at promoting effective stakeholder participation [4–6]. MCDA evalu- ates and prioritizes multi-objective management options when monetary values or cost-benefit analysis are inappropriate [7]. Practitioners would commonly integrate multi-dimensional data (e.g. economic, social and/or ecological), giving an analytic fra- mework to consider value judgments in decision making. MCDA aids in clarifying stakeholders' values and objectives, promoting innovation, social learning and understanding [6,8]. In marine ecosystems, participative MCDA has begun to be used to aid participatory planning approaches [e.g. [9–11]]. De- spite the potential and increasing interest in using MCDA, no re- view clarifies the scope, challenges and emerging issues behind the application of participatory MCDA. Such a review is important as it allows to identify: (a) the main decision objectives of parti- cipatory MCDA applications, (b) the extent to which different tools/approaches are applied to engage stakeholders in the MCDA process and, (c) the way uncertainties around the integration of different stakeholder value judgments are included in the process. In this sense, the main goal of this review is to contribute to a research agenda that can inform participative MCDA design through identifying critical research gaps, which if not addressed, Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol Marine Policy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2015.06.022 0308-597X/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: roestevez@uc.cl (R.A. Estévez), sgelcich@bio.puc.cl (S. Gelcich). Marine Policy 61 (2015) 1–7