Susceptibility of deforestation hotspots in Terai-Dooars belt of Himalayan Foothills: A comparative analysis of VIKOR and TOPSIS models

Abstract

Once, the entire Terai-Dooars region of Himalayan Foothills was enveloped by the tropical and subtropical moist deciduous and broadleaf forest. Multiple anthropogenic activities are responsible for large scale deforestation, forest habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss. The main objective of this current research is to identify the deforestation probable zones applying various multi-criteria decision analysis methods (AHP, TOPSIS and VIKOR). The main advantages of multi-criteria decision making methods are to determine and consider the suitable criteria by expert’s opinion. The advantages of AHP are subjectivity reduction, universality and inconsistency in data verification. Merits of VIKOR and TOPSIS models are rationality, simplicity, better computational proficiency and high efficiency to measure the performance of every alternative in a simple mathematical way. The result shows that the upper Terai-Dooars region has low deforestation probability while the lower part has high deforestation probability due to huge anthropogenic stress. It has been observed that the VIKOR model is the most reliable model with 73% accuracy rate. These MCDA methods (AHP, TOPSIS and VIKOR) have high flexibility and simplicity to modify the criteria and rank. They can provide logical and realistic results for solution of various problems as well as resource management.

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