Sustainable development in the mining sector and its evaluation using fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) approach

Abstract

Mining activities have not only provided positive impacts on eco-social development but also caused many adverse ones on social and environmental conditions. Measurement of sustainable development for this specific economic sector requires specific considerations and implements in a sustainable development concept. This paper provides essential information regarding sustainable development issues, sustainable development evaluation and the wide range of effective applications of the two multi-criteria approaches, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy AHP. The aims of this paper are to discuss the urgent tasks of sustainable development problems in the mining sector, and to suggest a potential and practical approach of fuzzy AHP in the evaluation of sustainable development for mining sector. Moreover, this paper discusses the strong possibility of fuzzy AHP approaches for designing a sustainability system in the mining sector and handling uncertainty in deriving the priorities of components in a mining sustainability system. Once sustainable development hierarchy, including criteria and their behavior indicators specific for the mining sector, is established, fuzzy theory and the concept of fuzzy AHP can be utilized in evaluation of priority for each component. The result could provide a useful foundation for further sustainability evaluation researches for the mining sector. © 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.