Mohammad Hassan SADEGH RAVESH^1*, Gholamreza ZEHTABIAN² Hassan AHMADI³ & Hassan KHOSRAVI^2
1Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch, School of the Agriculture, Department of Environment, Takestan, Iran.
²University of Tehran, Faculty of Natural Resources, Department of Arid and Mountainous Reclamation Region, Tehran, Iran.
³ Islamic Azad University, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Watershed, Tehran, Iran.
^* Correspondence author; E-mail: m.sadeghiravesh@tiau.ac.ir.

USING ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS METHOD AND ORDERING TECHNIQUE TO ASSESS DE-DESERTIFICATION ALTERNATIVES. CASE STUDY: KHEZRABAD, YAZD, IRAN

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Till now, there is no any method to consider different criteria and alternatives and present the optimal alternatives based on systematic and group perspective in de-desertification projects. Usually, the proposed alternatives according to experts are non-systematic and non-comprehensive. There is no record on application of systematic models in de-desertification field including: Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM). This paper tries to present the application of analytic hierarchy process method and to order preference by similarity to ideal solution and providing optimal de-desertification alternatives. In this study, experts’ opinions on priority of criteria and alternatives were assessed using AHP model, Delphi technique, pirewise comparison and Expert Choice software. Finally, alternatives priorities were obtained with formation of decision matrix and TOPSIS model. That model was tested in the Khezrabad region to evaluate the determination of optimal alternatives. Results indicate that the prevention of unsuitable land use changes, vegetation cover development and reclamation, and change of ground water harvesting with the relative convergence of 0.766, 0.576 and 0.403 are the most important desertification alternatives.