A CBR–AHP Hybrid Method to Support the Decision-Making Process in the Selection of Environmental Management Actions

Fernando Ramos-Quintana, Efraín Tovar-Sánchez, Hugo Saldarriaga-Noreña, Héctor Sotelo-Nava, Juan Paulo Sánchez-Hernández and María-Luisa Castrejón-Godínez
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Fernando Ramos-Quintana: Dirección General de Desarrollo Sustentable, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62209, Mexico
Efraín Tovar-Sánchez: Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62209, Mexico
Hugo Saldarriaga-Noreña: Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62209, Mexico
Héctor Sotelo-Nava: Dirección General de Desarrollo Sustentable, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62209, Mexico
Juan Paulo Sánchez-Hernández: Dirección de Informática, Electrónica y Telecomunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Estado de Morelos, Boulevard Cuauhnáhuac 566, Jiutepec, Morelos 62550, Mexico
María-Luisa Castrejón-Godínez: Dirección General de Desarrollo Sustentable, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62209, Mexico

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-30

Abstract: This paper proposes a hybrid method integrating case-based reasoning (CBR) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods to reinforce the sustainable performance of an environmental management system. The CBR–AHP method aims to support the decision-making process to select environmental management actions (EMAs) aimed at reducing risky trends of the environmental state of a region. The CBR methods takes advantage of a set of situation–solution pairs called cases, which are stored in a memory and then retrieved as candidates to solve new problems. Situations in this work are represented by a set of risky trends of key environmental pathways (KEPs) related to CO 2 emissions, air quality, loss of vegetation cover, water availability, and solid waste, the combination of which damage the environmental state quality of a region. Meanwhile, solutions are represented by a set of EMAs. Similar situations to a given current situation are retrieved from the memory of cases, and then their solutions are combined through an adaptation mechanism, until the solution of the current problem is obtained. The AHP method is used to assign weights to environmental variables and to alternative solutions represented by EMAs. We used risky trends derived from real data related to the environmental states of a Mexican region to test the proposed CBR–AHP hybrid method. The results obtained provided insights into the potential of the CBR–AHP hybrid method to support the decision-making process to select EMAs aimed at reducing risky trends of current environmental states.

Keywords: decision support systems; environmental state; case-based reasoning; analytic hierarchy process; environmental management actions; driving-force variables; pressure variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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