A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach to eco-environmental vulnerability assessment for the danjiangkou reservoir area, China

The Danjiangkou reservoir lies in the upper Hanjiang basin and is the source of water for the Middle Route Project (MRP) under the South-to-North Water Transfer Scheme (SNWT) in China. The eco-environment of water resource areas plays an important role in water conservation and purification and would have significant implications for the economic prosperity in Hanjiang basin as well as for the SNWT. Focusing on the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area (DRA), this study established an environmental information system database. Based on the database, an eco-environmental vulnerability assessment method using integrated fuzzy AHP (FAHP) and GIS was developed for the DRA. According to eco-environmental conditions and anthropic effects, vulnerability was classified into five levels: potential, light, medium, heavy and very heavy. The eco-environmental vulnerability distribution and major problems of the eco-environment were analysed and discussed. The results indicated that eco-environmental vulnerability in the DRA was moderate overall. Regions with lower eco-environmental vulnerability were located in Qinling Mountain area in the northwest, Daba Mountain area in the south and the area immediately surrounding Danjiangkou Reservoir in the east. Two regions with very high eco-environmental vulnerability were located in the north of Danjiangkou Reservoir in Henan province and in the western part of Shanxi province. On the basis of analysis of distribution of the different factors of eco-environmental vulnerability, different environmental protection measures were proposed for different areas. This study demonstrated that the proposed method was an effective approach for the assessment of environmental vulnerability. The results gained closely reflected the reality of the eco-environmental vulnerability of the DRA. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.