Fuzzy approach to the environmental impact evaluation

Because of the imprecision of the ecological impacts and the frequent lack: of quantitative information, fuzzy theory provides a useful approach to th e environmental impact evaluation. In this paper, the environmental paramet ers are defined through fuzzy numbers. By considering the duality of the gl obal component as derived from primitive environmental components, for thes e primitive components the quality is generally derived from their fuzzy ph ysical parameters. Suitable operators are proposed in order to estimate the global environmental component quality as a function of environmental prim itive components quality that cam decrease or increase the environmental qu ality. Also in fuzzy form the magnitude of the plant impact factor that str ikes the environmental components is esteemed. This magnitude is a function of environmental parameters that can be fuzzy, as fuzzy can be the relatio n between these parameters and the magnitude of the impact factor. Therefor e, through the matrix method, the total environmental impact (T.E.I.) in fu zzy terms is calculated, as in fuzzy form, the percentage of impact on ever y environmental component is calculated. A criterion is proposed in order t o compare fuzzy T.E.I. for various sceneries. This criterion is based on a ranking method that considers the grade of prudence of the decision-maker a nd the acceptable risk. Finally, a case study is reported as an explanation of the method. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.