Multi Criteria Decision Analysis to Compare Management Alternatives for Conservation of Persian Fallow Deer

Decision making for identifying and selecting the best management options for species conservation considering the ecological, social and economic issues is usually a challenging procedure as stakeholders may have various interests. Achieving a compromise for selecting the best management practices is a prolonged process, but the time for saving the threatened species is limited. Decision support tools such as Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) provide a framework for participation of different groups in the decision making process. We used a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach to identify the best management practices for conservation of Persian fallow deer. Persian fallow deer is an endangered species and have been saved from the verge of extinction by captive breeding programs and introducing it into different areas over the last half century. In this study eight management options for conservation of Persian fallow deer were identified and compared using six different criteria. All criteria were weighted and the management options weighed and ranked against each criterion, then the preference ability and the range of variation of each management option were identified. Deer protection in current sites was identified as the best practice to conserve the species. Other management options such as reintroducing the species to more new areas or habitat restoration had less favorability considering the costs, practicality, and conflicts with local people. By obtaining more information about the species ecology and conflict with local communities, the results of this study can be enhanced using the adaptive management approach.