Assessment of environmental vulnerability in Taleqan County using analytic hierarchy process

Reducing the irreparable damages of natural crises in Iran requires proper understanding of the causes and crisis reduction solutions. In this regard, identifying the severity of vulnerability in different aspects are the major determinants of the crisis including environmental, social, economic, cultural and psychological and preparedness level of the society against them. Therefore, the present paper aims to assess the environmental vulnerability of Taleqan County.
In this study combined methods was used. First, Delphi method and then analysis hierarchical process (AHP) method were used. In the first stage, all experts and certified people (30) in the subject matter were selected and studied by using purposeful sampling method in Taleqan County city in Alborz province. In the AHP method, validity and reliability were investigated using exploratory factor analysis. Since the KMO index was 0.879, the sample number was sufficient for analyzing this sampling adequacy. Also, the significance level of Bartlett test was less than 5% and the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was 0.856. The results were also analyzed by using Expert Choice software.
Findings: The results show that the central, southern and western parts are located in high vulnerability zone and the northern and somewhat eastern parts are in the low vulnerability zone. Also, Taleqan County River and its slopes is a high-vulnerable zone.
Identification and analysis of environmental vulnerability alone cannot entail the preservation and improvement of the quality of the environment, but should be specifically targeted to the development planners in order to carry out development projects in the area with a low level of vulnerability.