Making decisions with implications networks: Methodology and examples

The effect of implementation of policies, programs, plans and projects on the social, economic and environmental aspects of landscapes responds to conditioning factors that give a degree of sensitivity to these landscapes. The objective of this paper is to propose a landscape analysis methodology that allows to identify guidelines and priorities for landscape management. We have called this methodology the implications networks and it is based on chains of cause-effect relationships, in which the direct, indirect and cumulative (additive or synergistic) implications of the different types of actions on landscapes are considered. This methodology has been used in Colombia to establish the socio-environmental sensitivity of landscapes to the plans for the expansion of electric transmission, nature tourism, the moving of hydrocarbons by pipelines and wagons, demonstrating their usefulness and relevance for making decisions in these sectors, as well as to analyze the incidence of land use policies in Andean landscapes. The experience gained from the implementation of the implications networks methodology allows us to conclude that this is a useful and versatile systemic analysis tool to conduct studies and establish guidelines for the integral management of territories with multiple landscape units and various socio-environmental conditions.