Systems Practice, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1989 Computer Assistance in Environmental Mediation A. Dagnino, ~ K. W. Hipel, ~ and N. M. Fraser 2 Received August 18, 1987; revised June 11, 1988 Environmental disputes, such as landfill site location, air and noise pollution, acid rain, pollution spills, and groundwater contamination, represent serious problems in our modern society. Because environmental issues are of a high interest to the public, in general, and to affected interest groups, in particular, it is of great importance to explore the possibilities of joint gains in order to resolve these conflicts effectively. There is an increasing number of third-party intervenors who use mediation techniques for exploring these joint solutions for solving environ- mental disputes. In many instances, the decision makers involved in an environ- mental problem possess several options and the number of parties affected can be very large. Additionally, a mediator involved in seeking joint solutions to an environmental dispute has to make quick and reliable decisions in order to intervene in the most effective manner. For these and other reasons, the develop- ment of a decision support system capable of finding the possible resolutions to an environmental conflict and capable of handling preference information in an efficient manner will enable mediators to make better decisions. The major objective of this paper is to present a systematic framework for employment by mediators to find compromise solutions in environmental disputes. Within this framework, the DecisionMaker program is employed as a decision support system to assist the mediator to identify and expand the zone of agreement of the participants involved in an environmental conflict. KEY WORDS: environmental disputes; decision support system; mediation; conflict analysis. I Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. 2Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. 181 0894-9859/89/0600-0181506.00/0 9 1989 Plenum Publishing Corporation