Multi-criteria forest road network planning in fire-prone environment: a case study in Serbia

Abstract

This paper presents a multi-criteria selection of the best forest road network with the aim of achieving effective preventive and timely repressive protection against forest fires. The research was carried out in national park (NP) "Tara" at a site which is under constant threat of fire. Four variants of the forest road network were designed and analyzed against seven criteria, and the best variant was selected using entropy weight coefficients (EWC) method. The importance of these seven criteria was studied by the management of the NP "Tara." The greatest importance was given to the criteria relating to the cost of construction and maintenance of permanent and temporary roads (47% of the total value of all criteria). The EWC method did not select the variant based on the lowest costs of construction and maintenance as the best option, but the variant whose location was the most suitable for effective defense against forest fires.

Facing post COVID-19 era, what is really important for Ecuadorian SMEs?

“…Several advantages of the method were taken into account for its selection, (1) there are no previous assumptions for the data before weight determination in the entropy method, 47 (2) can be used not only to quantitatively estimate data quantity, but also to calculate objectively the relative weight of information, 32 (3) allow calculate objective weights of criteria avoiding subjective factors, 30 (4) increasing the accuracy of the results, 46 (5) allow to determine the extent of influence each criterion without affecting the preferences of decision-makers 49 and (6) allow to know the relative intensities of criteria importance and the divergence among them. 31…”

“…32,35,46,47 In the current investigation, the significance coefficient of the elements is determined through Shannon's entropy. 48 Several advantages of the method were taken into account for its selection, (1) there are no previous assumptions for the data before weight determination in the entropy method, 47 (2) can be used not only to quantitatively estimate data quantity, but also to calculate objectively the relative weight of information, 32 (3) allow calculate objective weights of criteria avoiding subjective factors, 30 (4) increasing the accuracy of the results, 46 (5) allow to determine the extent of influence each criterion without affecting the preferences of decision-makers 49 and (6) allow to know the relative intensities of criteria importance and the divergence among them. 31 The following steps are recommended to prioritize the parameters: a) Definition of the criteria to evaluate (parameters); b) Selection of alternatives (expert opinion); c) Priority setting (entropy method).…”

“Make no little plans”: Impactful research to solve the next generation of transportation problems

“…In the case of fire detection and fighting, research is needed that builds on the cited work to continue to develop methods for coordinating the fleets for greatest effectiveness. Authors are also beginning to look at forest road network design problems with fire control integrated into the planning [162], an area in which multiple objectives must be considered.…”

An Overview of forest cover and management in Italy

“…Forest opening, through a careful planning, designing and maintenance of road network is of primary importance in forest utilization and crucial for a sustainable management (Grigolato et al 2019). Primary forest road system, including truck forest roads, is a key element to allow wood production in addition to many other social and environmental purposes, i.e., research and monitoring activities, recreation, fi re protection and extinguishing (Eastaugh et al 2011, Stefanović et al 2016, Laschi et al 2016). Secondary forest communications, i.e., skid roads and skid trails, are determinant for basic vehicle-to-timber access during timber extraction (Đuka et al 2017).…”