Assessment of environmental factors causing wetland degradation, using Fuzzy Analytic Network Process: A case study on Keoladeo National Park, India

Abstract

Different factors play important roles in sustaining ecological balance and socio-economic stability of a region. Wetlands have crucial impact on preserving the ecology of a particular region. Wetland ecosystem is influenced by many factors that affect the bio-diversity and ecological balance to different degrees. The most common threats to wetlands are generally water scarcity, changing biodiversity and human intervention. Assessing the condition of a wetland involves the impact of environmental, ecological and socio economic factors which are mostly imprecise and uncertain in nature. Opinions of experts in several related fields are considered and subsequently importance of a particular environmental process in the wetland biosphere is expressed linguistically. Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) is one of the well-known procedures to assess the relative importance of different factors. In this paper, a model is developed using different wetland factors and sub-factors responsible for ecological degradation of Keoladeo National Park (KNP), India. Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) is applied to assess the relative importance of different factors responsible for preservation and restoration of ecological balance of KNP. The strategies of preservation and restoration of wetlands are sub-divided into several sub-goals. The network analysis of different factors explains their relative degrees of influence on the ecological system of KNP. Based on these findings, this paper suggests further enhancing the water supply, optimizing the land use structure and strengthening wetland protection laws.