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Tutorials on Systems Thinking

Beginning the Process


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The DPSIR Framework can help us begin the process by organizing our system-level decision in a conceptual way.  We will identify 

  • Drivers: human needs (sometimes thought of as fulfilled by economic sectors) 
  • Pressures:  human activities to fulfill needs that stress the environment 
  • States:  changes in the condition of the environment 
  • Impacts:  effects of a change in state on ecosystem services 
  • Responses:  reactions to losses of ecosystem services 

The DPSIR Framework can assist in many steps of the decision analysis process.  It will allow stakeholder/decision-maker groups to:

  • Generate a common understanding and organized, conceptual model of the system including the scientific, political, regulatory, social, and institutional settings
  • Generate a common understanding of how human activities affect ecosystems and vice-versa
  • Conceptualize and visualize desired outcomes leading to the development of measurable objectives
  • Provide a context to develop responses to achieve those outcomes
  • Conceptualize impacts based on current drivers, pressures and states, and conceptualize impacts of responses
  • Determine which responses need further evaluation in a quantitative decision analysis process
  • Decide if decision-makers need to collect additional data or perform additional research

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