Application of GIS, remote sensing and multi-critical analysis method for assessment and zoning eco-sensitive zones in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province

Abstract

In the context of economic development activities that are creating great pressure on the ecological environment, the results of ecologically sensitive assessment and zoning are an important basis for adjusting human activities towards sustainable use of natural resources and ecological services This study uses GIS, Landsat 8 images and the AHP multi-criteria analysis method to evaluate the ecological sensitivity of Ha Long city through two groups of impact factors: (i) Natural environmental factors group including altitude, slope, vegetation (ii) Human factors group includes land use activities, transportation, mineral exploitation, and population density. Each factor is represented spatially on the map according to 5 corresponding levels of ecological sensitivity. The synthetic ecologically sensitive zoning map is built based on an overlay map of component weights. Research results have identified 9.0 hectares of area with extremely high ecological sensitivity (0.01 %) which are mining areas near forests; 13,535 hectares of the area have a high level of ecological sensitivity (8.87 %), concentrated mainly in mining areas and forests; 90,339 hectares of the area have medium sensitivity level (59.18 %), the remaining area is less sensitive and non-sensitive area (31.941 %). The research results are the basis for proposing solutions to balance economic development and environmental protection to reach the goal of sustainable use of natural resources.