Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models
AbstractAssessment of the ecological vulnerability of regional forests is extremely vital for easing the struggle for forest conservation. Therefore, the present study aims to delve into the ecological vulnerability of the Eastern Duars forest in the Indian sub-Himalayan region. The study employs th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2024.2330529 |
| _version_ | 1797198192686661632 |
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| author | Uttam Das Bhagirath Behera |
| author_facet | Uttam Das Bhagirath Behera |
| author_sort | Uttam Das |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | AbstractAssessment of the ecological vulnerability of regional forests is extremely vital for easing the struggle for forest conservation. Therefore, the present study aims to delve into the ecological vulnerability of the Eastern Duars forest in the Indian sub-Himalayan region. The study employs three cutting-edge multi-criteria decision-making methods, including AHP, CRITIC, and AHP-TOPSIS methods, in which geo-environmental (elevation, slope, soil texture), hydro-meteorological (precipitation, temperature, waterbodies), vegetation index and anthropogenic (land use land cover, road, settlement) criteria are integrated, to assess ecological vulnerability. The vulnerability maps indicate that very high vulnerable areas comprise 0.05%, 0.01%, 23.96%, high vulnerable 19.72%, 17.51%, 41.52%, moderate vulnerable 63.45%, 49.66%, 29.49%, low vulnerable 16.70%, 30.82%, 4.10% and very low vulnerable 0.08%, 2.02%, 0.92% of area as per AHP, CRITIC, and AHP-TOPSIS method respectively. The highly vulnerable region is found in human-modified areas, where anthropogenic activities disrupt the natural ecological process, and deforestation is evident. Hence, careful strategic policies should be enforced regarding the restriction of anthropogenic activities, human habitation expansion, and changing climate to sustain the fragile Duars forest ecosystem. The inclusion of objective and hybrid criteria weighting methods, along with predominant knowledge-driven subjective weighting method, will promote the practice of comprehensive ecological vulnerability assessment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T06:55:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e2ed8f7cb894441087b60df31942c7aa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1947-5705 1947-5713 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T06:55:57Z |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk |
| spelling | doaj.art-e2ed8f7cb894441087b60df31942c7aa2024-04-22T11:24:48ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk1947-57051947-57132024-12-0115110.1080/19475705.2024.2330529Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS modelsUttam Das0Bhagirath Behera1Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, IndiaDepartment of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, IndiaAbstractAssessment of the ecological vulnerability of regional forests is extremely vital for easing the struggle for forest conservation. Therefore, the present study aims to delve into the ecological vulnerability of the Eastern Duars forest in the Indian sub-Himalayan region. The study employs three cutting-edge multi-criteria decision-making methods, including AHP, CRITIC, and AHP-TOPSIS methods, in which geo-environmental (elevation, slope, soil texture), hydro-meteorological (precipitation, temperature, waterbodies), vegetation index and anthropogenic (land use land cover, road, settlement) criteria are integrated, to assess ecological vulnerability. The vulnerability maps indicate that very high vulnerable areas comprise 0.05%, 0.01%, 23.96%, high vulnerable 19.72%, 17.51%, 41.52%, moderate vulnerable 63.45%, 49.66%, 29.49%, low vulnerable 16.70%, 30.82%, 4.10% and very low vulnerable 0.08%, 2.02%, 0.92% of area as per AHP, CRITIC, and AHP-TOPSIS method respectively. The highly vulnerable region is found in human-modified areas, where anthropogenic activities disrupt the natural ecological process, and deforestation is evident. Hence, careful strategic policies should be enforced regarding the restriction of anthropogenic activities, human habitation expansion, and changing climate to sustain the fragile Duars forest ecosystem. The inclusion of objective and hybrid criteria weighting methods, along with predominant knowledge-driven subjective weighting method, will promote the practice of comprehensive ecological vulnerability assessment.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2024.2330529Ecological vulnerabilityAHPCRITICTOPSISforested landscapeDuars |
| spellingShingle | Uttam Das Bhagirath Behera Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk Ecological vulnerability AHP CRITIC TOPSIS forested landscape Duars |
| title | Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models |
| title_full | Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models |
| title_fullStr | Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models |
| title_full_unstemmed | Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models |
| title_short | Geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile Eastern Duars Forest integrating GIS-based AHP, CRITIC and AHP-TOPSIS models |
| title_sort | geospatial assessment of ecological vulnerability of fragile eastern duars forest integrating gis based ahp critic and ahp topsis models |
| topic | Ecological vulnerability AHP CRITIC TOPSIS forested landscape Duars |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2024.2330529 |
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