Protection Priority in the Coastal Environment Using a Hybrid AHP-TOPSIS Method on the Miaoli Coast, Taiwan

Abstract

CHANG, H.-K.; LIOU, J.-C., and CHEN, W.-W., 2012. Protection priority in the coastal environment using a hybrid AHP-TOPSIS method on the Miaoli Coast, Taiwan. Journal of Coastal Research, 28(2), 369-374. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Coastal erosion often happens around the island of Taiwan because of strong waves from typhoons in the summer. The problem of beach erosion cannot be completely solved at this time due to insufficient government budgets. Prioritization of coastal protection should be made yearly to match engineering requirements and annual official budgets. This paper proposes both analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methods to prioritize the protection of the coastal environment on the Miaoli Coast of Taiwan. The weights of three main criteria (engineering safety, ecology, and coastal landscape) and their subcriteria are determined through the AHP method. Twenty-two segments of the Miaoli Coast are ranked according protection priority by the TOPSIS method. This multipart methodology can help decision makers prioritize coastal engineering and environmental efforts. This procedure also enables researchers to put more expert knowledge together, allowing more precise decisions and moderating personal judgments.