Using Group Decision-Making to assess the negative environmental, social and economic impacts of unstable rock salt mines in Maceio, Brazil

Abstract

The disaster caused by the instability of rock salt mines in Maceió, Brazil, is the largest ongoing worldwide socio-environmental disaster in urban areas and has already affected approximately 60,000 families directly who needed to be relocated. To assess the negative impacts caused by this disaster, a Group Decision-Making (GDM) model was developed based on qualitative (Thematic Content Analysis) and quantitative (Nominal Group Technique) analysis. A comparative evaluation of the opinion of three groups of stakeholders was performed: two considered as experts, i.e., academic professors and local public agents, and a group of citizens directly affected by the disaster. As a result, the residents considered the relevance of the impacts in the three dimensions analyzed to be similar, while the experts gave greater importance to the social and economic dimensions than the environmental one. This study potentially contributes to society by guiding public policymakers in the decision-making process on mitigation and preventive actions, and academics interested in the governance of disasters caused by mining industries.