Multi criteria analysis as an appropriate method for considering the value of ecosystem services in environmental assessment process

In the process of environmental evaluation or environmental impact assessment, (EIA) the role of human judgment is effective in determination the impacts of development project on environmental quality. In this regard, the cost–benefit analysis is utilized in order to accept or reject the projects. Environmental cost estimation of projects, however, is not very simple and not accurate. Most of the times, in the evaluation process, costs of ecosystem services degradation are not included and it causes inappropriate decision making. This follows a decline in environmental quality. In the other hand, including ecosystem services values in environmental project evaluation makes decision maker able to offer better analysis. Multi Criteria Analysis is an appropriate tool according to their capability in analyzing the non- congruent data. In this paper in addition to reviewing the basic concepts of ecosystem services and their valuation, the benefits of using multi-criteria analysis in the environmental impact assessment process have been introduced. For this purpose, a frame work has been used to demonstrate and analyze the role of ecosystem services valuation in the environmental impact assessment process.