Fuzzy multiple criteria sustainability assessment in forest management based on an integrated AHP-TOPSIS methodology

Sustainable forest management (SFM) is a forest management paradigm which balances diverse ecological, social, and economic aspects over space and time while considering the prosperity of forest-dependent communities. Assessing forest sustainability is a multidimensional problem which requires consideration of environmental, social, and economic factors like biological richness, water supply, visual quality, cultural features, worker safety, productivity, and economic benefits. The purpose of this study is to propose a multiple criteria sustainability evaluation methodology for forest management based on an integrated fuzzy AHP – TOPSIS approach. The fuzzy set theory is a strong tool which can deal with the uncertainty in case of subjective, incomplete, and vague information. In the proposed methodology the weights of the evaluation criteria is produced by a fuzzy AHP procedure. After determining the weights, an extension of classical TOPSIS method is used to rank the alternative SFM scenarios. A numerical example is also provided to demonstrate the computational process of the proposed method.