WIS.2
Brief Overview
WIS.2 is a decision support system for monitoring and ensuring the sustainable, goal-oriented and efficient management of forest ecosystems, especially with regard to the:
- integral handling of significant spatial- and temporal scales in forest ecosystems (i.e., multiscalarity, sustainability);
- valorisation of intrinsic multiple ways of using the forest (i.e., multifunctionality, adaptability);
- implementation of a liberal and pragmatic view of silviculture as applied in Switzerland (i.e., flexibility, close-to-nature).
WIS.2, based on MS Access and ArcGIS ArcView, is composed of different applications, each handling a main aspect of the management of forest ecosystems. This prototype is currently being tested in three forest enterprises and is also being promoted by a forest engineering firm. WIS.2 is used at all levels of education for forest management in Switzerland.
WIS.2 was initially developed within the framework of a PhD thesis during 2001-2005, and has since then been successively developed in an iterative manner using inputs gained from practical experience. Plans are currently being made to refine the tool in a research and development project and launch a commercial product called SMART-Forest.
Scope of the System
WIS.2 focuses on providing guidance in sustainable forestry management. The system gives strong organisational and decision support in implementing and monitoring silvicultural practices. The system provides specific information for the different phases of the silvicultural process, allowing planners to simulate the mid- to long-term consequences of various action scenarios, and supporting users in solving complex silvicultural problems at multiple scales (i.e., from the whole enterprise level down to the single stand level; from short-term to very long-term). The scope of WIS.2 covers:
- defining different variations of silvicultural strategy and implementation concepts, in order to assess the engineering strategy and recognize the mid to long-term consequences;
- formalising the manifold demands of society, forest owners and stakeholders for implementation in forest management;
- pointing out the priority-of-action by connecting long-term strategic planning with mid-term harvesting planning;
- systematically documenting and reporting the decisions taken with regard to the managerial plan;
- facilitating regular control of the development of forest areas with regard to the realisation of the enterprise strategy;
- giving guidance on how to react in a flexible way to changes such as market fluctuations and unforeseen events like storms;
- enabling the user to handle the given complexity - step by step.
