An integrated multi-criteria analysis for assessing sustainability of agricultural production at regional level

Environmental quality is fundamental for the well being of human life. Environmental risk assessment and analysis have a crucial role for guaranteeing the safety of the population, especially in intensive urbanized and industrialized areas, such as the Campania region (Italy). In Italy, after the Legislative Decree 152/2006, the environmental risk assessment has become mandatory for contaminated lands such as brownfields and dismantled industrial activities. Despite the importance and fragility of the soil, it is rarely taken into account as a resource to be preserved. Moreover, due to the heterogeneity of many variables involved in the process, the environmental and human health risk assessments are used at the scale of a site, while the regional evaluation is very difficult, and keeps the administration sceptical in taking it into account for land planning and decision-making processes. During the last years, some international methodologies for ecological and human health risk assessment have been developed by national environmental agencies in many industrialized countries. An idea recently took place regarding the protection of soils: the monitoring of soil should be limited only to risk areas, as opposed to monitoring systems covering the entire territory. Focusing monitoring in selected areas would help to define priorities, increase efficiency of monitoring activities and reduce the monitoring costs. This is the reason why many methodologies for preliminary and simplified risk assessment of (potentially) contaminated sites, for the prioritization and planning of soil remediation and protection programmes, were developed. The only lack that these methodologies have is the absence of the spatial analysis. The aim of this research was to implement the human health risk assessment. For the purposes of the study we used 3535 topsoil samples, collected across the whole regional territory. The concentrations of 53 elements have been determined at Bureau Veritas Analytical Lab. Ltd (Vancouver, Canada), by means of an Aqua Regia extraction followed by a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES methods. After the statistical and cartographic elaboration of these regional dataset, we integrated one of the model of relative risk assessment for single contaminated sites with spatial analysis procedures. In order to support the spatial assessment of contaminated sites at the regional scale, the most suitable tool is the Geographic Information System (GIS). A new approach was applied, in order to assess/rank environmental risk by using geospatial analysis in a GIS platform to adapt a European-wide accepted methodology for the preliminary assessment of human health risks at single contaminated sites to a regional scale. The developed regional risk assessment methodology can be used by the regional administrations to select at regional level the or priority areas. The identification of the problem areas is necessary for developing an efficient monitoring system and to produce a ranking of the risky areas to be used as a reference in determining the development of intervention plans, for better addressing the resources dedicated to the environmental remediation of widely contaminated regions. The methodology chosen as a reference for the risk assessment procedures is the PRA.MS (Preliminary risk assessment model for the identification of problem areas for soil contamination in Europe, 2005). Following the PRA.MS guidelines, a conceptual model for the human health risk assessment for the Campania region has been based on four different exposure routes: 1) dispersion of contaminants in groundwater, 2) dispersion in surface water, 3) dispersion in air, 4) direct contact with the contaminated media (soils). The source, the pathway and the receptor for each of the exposure route are scored on the base of a quantitative or qualitative analysis of some featuring characteristics (parameters). A total of 14 representative parameters were chosen, basing on the available regional data for Campania. Starting from these parameters values, the information is aggregated to higher levels in several steps, adopting a mixed additive and multiplicative algorithm, up to the overall risk score. The final risk map is classified according four classes of risk. This map was useful to identify the problem areas, characterized by a higher risk, where more detailed analysis had to be carried out. The identified area was located in a wide territory in the center of Campania region, between Avellino and Salerno municipalities, an high populated zone, where intensive agricultural and industrial activities are well developed. A high density survey has been carried out in this priority area; the concentrations of 53 elements have been measured on 102 new topsoil samples, followed by statistic and cartographic elaboration of the 15 potentially toxic elements (Sb, As, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, Tl, V, Zn) for which the Italian legislation (D.Lgs. 152/06) established the trigger and action limits, by defining the contamination threshold values (CSC) for the amount of metals in topsoils or waters. The new methodology of GIS-based human health risk assessment has been again applied, in order to select sites of particular significance in terms of danger for the resident population. Some small areas characterized by high risk have been identified. New in situ measurements and classic follow up risk assessment should be here carried out to confirm if remediation actions are needed to guaranteeing the safety of the population. Other works has been contemporaneously elaborated during the PhD. Six months have been spent at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), where a work on a humus samples dataset have been carried out, under the supervision of Dr. Timo Tarvainen. Moreover a new Geochemical Atlas will be completed based on inorganic elements and organic compounds concentrations in marine sediments samples, collected in the Gulfs of Naples and Salerno.

In recent years an increasing number of countries have implemented policy measures to promote renewable energy. However, the most important problem that the policy makers face with is the conflicting linguistic terms and subjective opinions on energy and environment policy. As the environmental policy and energy policy always go hand in hand, it is quite clear that wind as a renewable resource should be competitive with conventional power generation sources. From technical, environmental, socio-economical and socio-political standpoint, wind power is the most deserving of all of the cleaner energy production options (geothermal, solar, tidal, biomass, hydro) for more widespread deployment. Although wind power is a never ending green resource, assessment of environmental risks and impactswhich comprise the backbone of environmental policyin the context of specific projects or sites often are necessary to explicate and weigh the environmental trade-offs that are involved. In the case of wind farms, a number of turbines (ranging from about 250 kW to 750 kW) are connected together to generate large amounts of power. Apart from the constraints resulting from the number of turbines, any site selection should think over the technical, economic, social, environmental and political aspects. Each aspect uses criteria for its own evaluation. Decision making by using multi criteria decision analysis is an attractive solution for obtaining an integrated decision making result. Although Lee et al. (2009), Kaya and Kahraman (2010) and Tegou et al. (2010) has studied wind farm site selection by using different kinds of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Cheng’s extent analysis of Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) is used in this study and a holistic hierarchy were developed. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a multi-criteria decision making tool to deal with complex, unstructured and multi-attribute problems. This method is distinguished from other multi-criteria methods in three ways: I. Construction of the hierarchy structure II. Pairwise comparisons of different criteria III. Weighing with respective to the overall objective. In AHP, decision makers quantify the importance of criteria by using Cheng’s 1-9 scale. To overcome the disadvantage of reluctant and inconsistent comparison judgments, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) might be used on each factor to determine the weight of fuzziness of its attributes. Hierarchy structure diagram of wind farm site selection is given in Figure 1. This study aims to apply the FAHP to find priority sequence of alternatives and obtain the key success factors for the selection of appropriate sites of wind farms.

Regional-scale investigation of dissolved organic matter and lead binding in a large impacted lake with a focus on environmental risk assessment

Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a commonly used, effective tool applied to reduce adverse effects of environmental risk factors. In this study, ERA was investigated using the Bayesian network (BN) model based on a hierarchical structure of variables in an influence diagram (ID). ID facilitated ranking of the different alternatives under uncertainty that were then used to evaluate comparisons of the different risk factors. BN was used to present a new model for ERA applicable to complicated development projects such as dam construction. The methodology was applied to the Gabric Dam, in southern Iran. The main environmental risk factors in the region, presented by the Gabric Dam, were identified based on the Delphi technique and specific features of the study area. These included the following: flood, water pollution, earthquake, changes in land use, erosion and sedimentation, effects on the population, and ecosensitivity. These risk factors were then categorized based on results from the output decision node of the BN, including expected utility values for risk factors in the decision node. ERA was performed for the Gabric Dam using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method to compare results of BN modeling with those of conventional methods. Results determined that a BN-based hierarchical structure to ERA present acceptable and reasonable risk assessment prioritization in proposing suitable solutions to reduce environmental risks and can be used as a powerful decision support system for evaluating environmental risks.

Due to new regulations, laws and increasing demand from consumers, companies begin to enhance their environmental management practices. Hence, environmental risk assessment became one of the critical success factors for companies in order to be successful. Environmental risk assessment approaches under Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) activities vary among industries and taking precautions about environmental issues lead researchers and practitioners to create new approaches. Also, subjectivity of existing methods, advancement of technology, and aim to minimize risk levels and rivalry among competitors are some of the main reasons for development of new approaches. This study aims to propose a new fuzzy-based approach for environmental risk assessment along with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for environmental risk assessment. Hereby, along with the consideration of categorical impacts such as to human health and environment, new approach is applied and compared with classic AHP results. According to the implementation results on a chemical ranch of a textile company, new approach minimizes subjectivity besides of flexible, original, and easy to implement for researchers and practitioners.

An approach for environmental risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy inference rules

Measuring eco-efficiency of contaminated soil management at the regional level

Domestic waste‒composition investigation into different solid waste‒generation sources shows that the largest amount of domestic waste is generated at dormitories and faculties. Managing and controlling domestic-waste generation at dormitories and cafeterias has a significant effect of reducing organic waste and could reduce half of the total domestic waste. According to the comparison of recyclable materials generated from different sources, the results show that the most important sources of recyclable materials generation are dormitories because they generate 40 % of these materials follows by faculties, with 27 % generation. Therefore, dormitories and faculties are two hot spots in terms of recyclable-materials generation that should be considered. Comparing materials collected at the source and those existing in disposable waste shows that the greatest part of recyclable materials generated are transferred for disposal and more than 25 % could not be collected more than 25 % at the source. Furthermore, 3.6 tons of compostable waste, 1.6 tons of recyclable materials, and 1.9 tons of usable waste for the anaerobic-digestion method are generated per day. According to the solid-waste composition, some solid waste‒management scenarios were suggested, and they were compared using LCA and AHP. Combining of the life-cycle analysis (LCA) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) results in the cluster-analysis method illustrates that scenario 5—by integration of 20 % RDF, 40 % composting, 20 % anaerobic digestion, and 20 % recycling—is the most appropriate solid waste‒management system.

With the proposal of the sustainable scientific development concept, the ecological environment problem has been paid more and more attention, and the economic loss and financial risk assessment work caused by environmental pollution is even more urgent. On the one hand, financial growth is an important reason for the decline of environmental quality; on the other hand, the change of environmental quality and the increase in pollution discharge also have counterforces to financial growth. Through big data technology, this paper established the basic steps of economic loss cost and risk assessment and provided quantifiable index information for the realization of ecological environment big data early warning. An improved analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed in this paper. By checking the consistency of the judgment matrix in combination with the actual situation, it is possible to accurately analyze the degree of environmental protection for sustained economic growth, and to objectively understand the degree of financial risk. The experimental results of this paper showed that the evaluation accuracy of the improved AHP was higher. Before the improved method was used, most of the high-risk factor weights and rankings were still in the high-risk range. The results of the consistency verification of risk criteria and risk factors showed that the consistency test of each level was less than 0.1. The risk factors are classified into the high-risk factor group (50%). The impact of the air pollution category had increased from fifth place in the fuzzy AHP to the first place in the AHP risk ranking, and the risk of water pollution category dropped from the 19th medium risk in the fuzzy AHP to the 12th medium risk in the AHP. It can be seen that the weights and rankings evaluated by the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process were more in line with the actual market conditions.

BackgroundInternational literature has illustrated that the health impacts of heat waves vary according to differences in the spatial variability of high temperatures and the social and economic characteristics of populations and communities. However, to date there have been few studies that quantitatively assess the health vulnerability to heat waves in China.ObjectivesTo assess the spatial distribution of health vulnerability to heat waves in Guangdong Province, China.MethodsA vulnerability framework including dimensions of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity was employed. The last two dimensions were called social vulnerability. An indicator pool was proposed with reference to relevant literatures, local context provided by relevant local stakeholder experts, and data availability. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and a principal component analysis were used to determine the weight of indicators. A multiplicative vulnerability index (VI) was constructed for each district/county of Guangdong province, China.ResultsA total of 13 items (two for exposure, six for sensitivity, and five for adaptive capacity) were proposed to assess vulnerability. The results of an AHP revealed that the average VI in Guangdong Province was 0.26 with the highest in the Lianzhou and Liannan counties of Qingyuan (VI=0.50) and the lowest in the Yantian district of Shenzhen (VI=0.08). Vulnerability was gradiently distributed with higher levels in northern inland regions and lower levels in southern coastal regions. In the principal component analysis, three components were isolated from the 11 social vulnerability indicators. The estimated vulnerability had a similar distribution pattern with that estimated by AHP (Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)=0.98, p<0.01).ConclusionsHealth vulnerability to heat waves in Guangdong Province had a distinct spatial distribution, with higher levels in northern inland regions than that in the southern coastal regions.

The use of wastewater as a source of water is emerging as one of the most sustainable alternative in view of global water scarcity. A variety of risks and threats are impeded in the use of wastewater, especially those related to public health and environment. Environmental management tools have been developed and used in the water industry including the production of potable water or for wastewater treatment with the prime objective of maintaining sustainability and curbing any hazardous impact that might affect consumers and alleviating the environment burden involved in this industry. In addition, a set of sustainability indicators were developed to help gauging sustainability issues in the water industry. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) and risk assessment (RA) are among the early environmental tools employed in the water industry with wide implementation in wastewater facilities and technologies. Despite the numerous advantages EIA and RA have added to the concept of sustainability and human safety, some shortcomings were also apparent that needed an additional tool to help overcome such gaps. Life cycle analysis, an ISO guided step wise process, is considered the most holistic tool that would encounter all upstream and downstream impacts related to the industry. It also offers the prospects of mapping the energy and material flows as well as the resources of the total system. On the other side, LCA tend to require copious sets of information and data that can limit its use in developing countries where information shortage prevails. The present part is focused on highlighting some of the main features of environmental sustainability of the water industry, along with the main tools applied to help promoting sustainability. It also delineate on life cycle analysis as one of the most comprehensive guidelines used in water industry towards the ultimate goal of achieving sustainability.KeywordsEnvironmentLife cycle analysisManagement systemSustainabilityWastewaterWater

Stakeholder participation in prioritizing sustainability issues at regional level using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique: A case study of Goa, India

Environmental risks have a significant impact on the sustainability of subway station construction projects. This paper proposes an environmental risk assessment model based on the intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP) and set pair analysis (SPA) to deal with the ambiguity and uncertainty in the assessment. An index system for environmental risk assessment is established based on a literature review and the rough set method. Subsequently, the IFAHP is used to calculate the indicator weights to describe the certainty, uncertainty, and hesitation degree of expert decisions in the weighting calculation by means of affiliation, nonaffiliation, and hesitation. Finally, SPA, which can deal with the randomness, uncertainty, and ambiguity of the indicators, is used to assess environmental risk. A case study of two typical stations (Lushan Avenue Station and Huilong Road West Station) of Metro Line 11 in Chengdu, China, is conducted. The case study results are consistent with field surveys. The evaluation results of the proposed model are more objective and reasonable than those of the traditional analytic hierarchy process, the entropy weight method, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, grey correlation analysis, and technique for order of preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). The research results prove the scientific validity and superiority of the proposed model.

Sustainability assessment of flooring systems in the city of Tehran: An AHP-based life cycle analysis

Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has emerged over the past years as a method to assess environmental impacts of products and processes. In this case study we use LCA to obtain an environmental measure for refined oils, which are inputs for fat blends. As a start, an inventory is drawn up of the environmental effects of the oils. Then we use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to aggregate the scores of these effects to one environmental index for each oil. This multiple criteria decision tool involves making pairwise comparisons between the environmental effects, resulting in relative weight factors. Multiplying the effect scores with the relative weights yields an environmental index. It is now possible to improve the environmental impact of a fat blend composition using the environmental index in a linear programming (LP) blending model. With this combination of methods, environmental aspects of products can become part of product portfolio management.