China's regional sustainability assessment on mineral resources: Results from an improved analytic hierarchy process-based normal cloud model

• Published in: Journal of cleaner production Vol. 210; pp. 105 - 120
• Main Authors: Cui, Chao-Qun, Wang, Bing, Zhao, Yi-Xin, Wang, Qian, Sun, Zhen-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 10-02-2019
• Subjects: Analytic hierarchy process; Mineral resources; Normal cloud; Province; Sustainability; Normal cloud; Mineral resources; Sustainability; Province; Analytic hierarchy process
• ISSN: 0959-6526; 1879-1786
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.324

Mineral resources are still the rigid demand of China's development and their sustainability assessment is central to regional development. This paper introduces an improved Analytic Hierarchy Process-based Normal cloud model which incorporated randomness and fuzziness and presents an index system applicable to empirical analysis on 31 provinces of China. The weight system of evaluation indicators is determined by an improved analytic hierarchy process (IAHP) approach with good accessibility and attainability. Regional disparities of resources sustainability are demonstrated by spatial distributions of mineral resources sustainability with the help of GIS technology. The sustainability level is determined by the combination of resources, environment and society dimensions. The results indicate that the areas with high sustainability do not necessarily happen in resource-rich regions. The most important implications are the relatively lower sustainability of the developed areas and the higher sustainability in western provinces. The scores for indicators reveal that compared with western and central areas, the coastal provinces are less sustainable in environmental carrying capacity, but with higher sustainable social supporting capacity. Robustness test notes that the results are sensitive to the adjustment of weight system due to the preference of decision makers. Finally, differentiated regional strategies for improving overall sustainability are proposed.
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•Normal cloud model is applied to assess sustainability of mineral resources (SMR).•An assessment system of SMR is developed for Chinese province.•The weights are obtained by improved analytic hierarchy process and an expert survey.•Resource-rich areas have high levels of SMR but with some exceptions.•Regional SMR is sensitive to the preference of decision makers.