Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology. It was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s. It represents an accurate approach to quantifying the weights of decision criteria. Individual experts’ experiences are utilized to estimate the relative magnitudes of factors through pair-wise comparisons. Each of the respondents then compares the relative importance of each pair of items using a specially designed questionnaire. AHP has particular application in group decision making and is used around the world in a wide variety of decision situations, in fields such as government, business, industry, healthcare and education. Rather than prescribing a "correct" decision, the AHP helps decision makers find the decision that best suits their goal and their understanding of the problem. It provides a comprehensive and rational framework for structuring a decision problem, for representing and quantifying its elements, for relating those elements to overall goals, and for evaluating alternative solutions. An analytical hierarchical process can also be applied for defining the importance of various factors to be taken into account in forest restoration. An analytical hierarchical process was performed to evaluate the optimal forest restoration scenario aimed at maintaining and improving the ecosystem services provided by the Monte Morello forest in central Italy.