Multi Criteria Geographic Information System Analysis for Sustainable Development in North Sinai - EGYPT

Sustainable development in any country is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals as well as sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services the interest of citizens. Many factors including the environment, economic and society needs should be considered and investigated during process. These factors should be linked together to reach the best final decisions, which meet societal needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural systems. In addition, these different considerations and interests make the planning process complex, and as such there might be conflicts of interest in the decision making. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) integration reduces the complex nature in the planning process, which allows different stakeholders to reach a general conclusion, concerning the best zones for industry and new communities in north Sinai. In this context, different criteria have been selected and weighted to represent the favoured conditions concerning the order and priority for this purpose. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is another GIS-MCDA technique that is used to obtain a final assessment from variable alternative solutions. This proposed integration is expected to be well suited for creating land suitability index maps and to identify suitable zones for land development and activities redistribution.