Fynbos (fine bush) vegetation and the supply of water: a comparison of multi-criteria decision analysis and cost-benefit analysis

This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-criteria decision analysis approach to public sector decision making as opposed to cost-benefit analysis, particularly in the developing world where much of the population is outside of a market setting, where there is extreme inequality in the distribution of income, and the environment is a major factor of production. Multi-criteria decision analysis approaches are especially appropriate in participatory democracies where decision-making methods need to allow for direct input from those affected. The expansion of water provision to the Greater Metropolitan Cape Town area and the threats which it poses to the last relatively pristine fynbos mountain catchment areas in the Western Cape, is used as an illustrative example. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.