Environmental management is essentially conflict analysis characterised by technical, socio-economic, environmental and political value judgements. Therefore, in an environmental planning process it is very difficult to arrive at straightforward and unambiguous solutions. This implies that such a multi-related planning process will always be characterised by the search for acceptable compromise solutions, an activity which requires an adequate evaluation methodology. Multiple criteria evaluation techniques aim at providing such a set of tools. In this paper, a comparison of the key characteristics of cost-benefit analysis and multicriteria evaluation will be carried out on the base of a set of comparison criteria; particular emphasis will be given to the role of sustainability.
Samenvatting