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Location for Forest Park Establishment with Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Approach: A Case Study

A. Alijanpour, S. Khezri dashkasan, O. Hoseinzadeh, M. Erfanian

Abstract



Decision-making on the forest park location is a function of numerous criteria. To collect comprehensive information on the main criteria affecting the forest park location, using a review of documents and desk studies, different criteria used in the selection of these locations by various internal and external references were collected. Given the functionality of multi-criterion decision-making group approach, this study used Analytical Network Process (ANP) to determine and assess the degrees of importance for criteria and indicators affecting location, and finally the selection of an appropriate area for the forest park establishment. Using Geographic Information System (GIS), quantitative criteria were identified and weighted, and the paired comparison method was used for weighing qualitative criteria. To determine the options, considering the measures required for the forest park establishment, six areas were selected as the decision model options. Finally, to select the optimal place, the quantitative and qualitative criteria were identified using network analysis and combining and weighting options. The results of weighting important criteria for selecting a suitable location for forest park showed that among the seven selected criteria, the water resources criterion weighing 0.42 has the highest importance, followed by the criteria of climate, landscape and herbal-animal. On the sub-criteria related to climate, average rainfall weighing 0.50 had the highest weight. The distance from water resources sub-criterion weighing 0.48 is the most important sub-criterion related to water resources. The forest cover diversity sub-criterion weighing 0.52 is the most important sub-criterion related to the herbal-animal criterion. According to expert opinions, security weighing 0.56 is the most important sub-criterion related to the sociocultural criteria. The option prioritization results showed that the NizhDarre weighting 0.30 is the most suitable location for the forest park establishment.

Keywords


forest park, Multi-criteria decision making, outdoor recreation, Darre Shohada

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