A computerised decision support system for rural policy formulation

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Abstract
A primary goal of the NERC/ESRC Land Use Programme (NELUP) was to design and build a decision support system (DSS) to model rural land use and its change due to environmental and agricultural policy. The effects of policies are measured in terms of economic, ecological and hydrological parameters, with land use and land cover being the uniting factors. The DSS incorporates access to a large database and a suite of complex models. The DSS is user-friendly, produces meaningful graphics, and is almost entirely mouse-driven. This paper describes the NELUP view of policy making and DSS, the NELUP database and the DSS models and interface philosophy and design. The results of workshops, conducted with potential users of the DSS, are discussed and summarised.