Participatory multi-criteria decision analysis for prioritizing impacts in environmental and social impact assessments

Figures & data

Figure 1. General aerial images of the case study area.

Figure 2. Specific aerial images of the case study area.

Figure 3. Process layout.

Table 1. Members of the stakeholders’ platform.

Categories of stakeholders
(1) Regional administration
(2) Town council
(3) Entrepreneurs’ associations
(4) Large hotel entrepreneurs
(5) Small businesses, restaurants, bars (owners and staff)
(6) Tourism services and golf providers
(7) Builders and estate agents involved in project
(8) Agricultural entrepreneurs
(9) Staff from golf courses and large hotels
(10) Building and estate agent staff
(11) Golf tourists
(12) Non-golf tourists
(13) Residents’ association (Spanish and foreign residents)
(14) Hunters, sportspeople, sailors, etc.
(15) Ecologists
(16) Golf sports federation
(17) Population – local community in general
(18) Seasonal population (summer)
(19) Academic experts in the fields of geography, economy and development strategy, sociology, company management and ecology

Table 2. Selection of impacts by criterion.

Negative Impacts	Frequency	Selection criterion
Increased/ diminished consumption of water resources	7	Frequency
Alteration of ecosystem	4
Seasonality	4
Urban growth	4
Water pollution	3
Increased property speculation/prices	3
Increased tourist demand	3
Changes in types of tourist services	3
Loss of green areas	2
Dependency on external economic factors	2
Changes in activities/Loss of traditional businesses	2
Tourist ghetto	2
Loss of cultural identity/features	3
Changes in types of services	2
Changes in the landscape	1	Severe harm
Lack of cooperation by complexes with local businesses	1
Closed tourist packages	1
Low increase in local population’s wealth	1
Alteration of soil quality	1	Experts
Lack of connection with local culture	1
Creation of a tourist brand	1
Lack of employment/investment returns	1

Table 3. Range of variation of the weights for each criterion.

Criterion	Mean weight	Standard error	Maximum weight	Minimum weight	Standard deviation
Conflict	0.22	0.015	0.13	0.33	0.06
Harm	0.19	0.012	0.10	0.26	0.05
Intensity	0.20	0.014	0.08	0.25	0.05
Reversibility	0.20	0.012	0.15	0.30	0.05
Influence	0.20	0.009	0.14	0.27	0.03

Table 4. Global ranking of the 22 project impacts, obtained using Promethee GDSS.

Project impacts	Promethee GDSS priority rank*	Phi	Lowest priority rank	Highest priority rank
Closed tourist packages	1	0.2830	2	20
Tourist ghetto	2	0.2547	2	11
Lack of golf complex cooperation with local businesses	3	0.2423	1	16
Seasonality	4	0.2070	1	18
Dependency on external economic factors	5	0.1601	1	21
Lack of connection with local culture	6	0.1084	3	22
Low increase in local population’s wealth	7	0.0665	1	18
Increased property speculation/prices	8	0.0196	1	21
Lack of employment/investment returns	9	0.0188	1	22
Water pollution	10	0.0021	1	21
Loss of cultural identity/features	11	−0.0070	5	21
Urban growth	12	−0.0129	3	22
Changes in activities/loss of traditional businesses	13	−0.0495	3	21
Changes in the landscape	14	−0.0773	2	21
Loss of green areas	15	−0.0910	2	22
Increased tourist demand	16	−0.0974	1	19
Creation of a tourist brand	17	−0.1106	2	20
Alteration of ecosystem	18	−0.1310	5	22
Changes in types of services	19	−0.1645	8	22
Changes in types of tourist services	20	−0.1800	7	22
Increased consumption of water resources/diminished water resources	21	−0.1932	4	21
Alteration of soil quality	22	−0.2480	9	22

*Lower rank indicates higher priority.

Table 5. Uni-criterion ranking of the 22 project impacts.

Criteria	Conflict	Harm	Intensity	Reversibility	Influence
Project impacts	Priority rank	Priority rank	Priority rank	Priority rank	Priority rank
Increased consumption of water resources/diminished water resources	21	22	20	14	7
Alteration of ecosystem	10	14	21	15	19
Water pollution	8	9	15	16	3
Loss of green areas	16	12	18	11	12
Alteration of soil quality	19	21	22	20	1
Changes in the landscape	14	10	6	19	17
Seasonality	4	1	3	10	22
Dependency on external economic factors	7	2	10	7	15
Changes in activities/loss of traditional businesses	15	16	17	6	14
Low increase in local population’s wealth	5	8	12	9	18
Lack of cooperation by complexes with local businesses	1	4	4	3	20
Lack of employment/investment returns	9	5	7	13	10
Increased property speculation/prices	12	17	8	22	2
Urban growth	11	18	2	21	9
Increased tourist demand	17	13	11	18	8
Changes in types of tourist services	20	19	16	17	6
Tourist ghetto	3	7	13	4	5
Changes in types of services	18	15	14	12	16
Creation of a tourist brand	22	20	9	5	13
Closed tourist packages	2	3	1	8	4
Loss of cultural identity/features	13	10	19	1	11
Lack of connection with local culture	6	6	5	2	21

*In “bold” the most important (rank 1) and least important (rank 22) impact for each criterion.