International Journal of Occupational Hygiene (Jun 2021)
Development of a Method for Evaluating the Ports Environmental Performance Based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP)
Abstract
Introduction: Appropriate environmental performance is considered as one of the important indicators in the sustainable development of organizations and industries. Evaluating the environmental performance in ports as one of the two main parts of the maritime transport system is very important. Therefore, this study was designed and conducted aimed at developing a method for evaluating the environmental performance of ports based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). Methods: 22 experts in the field of environment and marine sciences took part in the present study in 2020. In the first step, various studies on the factors affecting the environmental performance of ports were reviewed. In the second step, a questionnaire was designed to assess ports environmental performance. In the third step, in a Delphi study, this questionnaire was developed. In the fourth step, by determining the weight of each parameter, the method of environmental performance assessment in ports was developed based on the FAHP. Results: The final normalized weights for six environmental performance factors including reactive and proactive performance, sustainability, socio-cultural, economic and governance were estimated 0.202, 0.241, 0.226, 0.070, 0.080 and 0.182, respectively. Additionally, it was found that each of the parameters has different weight and impact on these factors. The highest and lowest impact on environmental performance index belonged to environmental risk assessment (weight=0.217) and cultural effects and justice (weight=0.107), respectively. Conclusion: In this study, a new method has been developed for evaluating the environmental performance of ports based on six factors and 32 parameters and FAHP. Therefore, using this method can be an effective step in reducing environmental impacts and improving the level of environmental performance in ports to achieve the goal of "green port".
