Trade-off matrix between private and public benefits of land-use systems (ASB Matrix)

Abstract

Policy-makers need accurate, objective information on which to base their inevitably controversial decisions. The ASB Matrix can help them consider the difficult choices they must make. In the ASB Matrix, natural forest and the land-use systems that replace it are scored against different criteria reflecting the objectives of different interest groups. To enable results to be compared across locations, the systems specific to each are grouped according to broad categories, ranging from agroforests to grasslands and pastures (Tomich et al 1998). The ASB Matrix is a key example of a ‘boundary object’ (Clark et al 2011). It is the result of ‘boundary’ work at the interface between science, policy and local concerns and reflects the effort to jointly define knowledge products and a legitimate pathway to derive them