Evaluating climate adaptation strategies for coastal resilience using multi-criteria decision-making framework

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Coastal Management

Background:

• Coastal regions face increasing climate change challenges, necessitating robust adaptation strategies.
• Selecting optimal strategies requires balancing complex ecological, economic, and social considerations.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the multifaceted nature of coastal adaptation planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-based Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) framework for evaluating coastal adaptation strategies.
• To systematically integrate empirical evidence and expert judgment for informed decision-making.
• To prioritize adaptation strategies based on key performance criteria.

Main Methods:

• Development of an AHP-based MCDM framework.
• Integration of inputs from 20 domain experts.
• Evaluation of adaptation strategies based on Environmental Impact, Cost-Effectiveness, Social Acceptance, and Long-Term Sustainability.

Main Results:

• Mangrove restoration identified as the highest-priority strategy with a score of 0.70.
• Environmental Impact (0.533) emerged as the most significant criterion, followed by Cost-Effectiveness (0.255).
• The framework demonstrated superior performance for mangrove restoration across environmental, social, and sustainability dimensions.

Conclusions:

• The proposed AHP-MCDM framework provides a transparent and replicable method for assessing coastal adaptation strategies.
• Mangrove restoration is a highly effective strategy for enhancing coastal resilience and achieving sustainable development goals.
• The methodology supports informed, context-specific planning by evaluating trade-offs among diverse criteria.