A fuzzy decision support tool for wildlife translocations into communal conservancies in Namibia

A fuzzy logic knowledge based decision support system, Wildlife Introduction Advisor, was developed using NetWeaver to standardise the decision making process of selecting communal conservancies for wildlife translocation in Namibia. Wildlife translocations are a valuable conservation tool with benefits for both local communities and wildlife populations, but are often undertaken in an ad hoc fashion. In Namibia, communal conservancies present a conservation opportunity for the expansion of wildlife ranges but the economic opportunities associated with wildlife create difficult situations of having to decide who gets animals and who does not. The Wildlife Introduction Advisor is the result of experts' agreement on structuring and prioritising the main factors that need to be considered. Both the validity of the system outputs and their sensitivity to input changes were evaluated through a series of tests, which show that it is possible to use a fuzzy logic decision support system to aid the selection of translocation sites for wildlife species. A knowledge based decision support tool such as Wildlife Introduction Advisor is an effective tool for a wildlife agency because it standardises the decision making process and thus enhances transparency and management accountability.