An integrated approach of GIS-AHP-MCE methods for the selection of suitable sites for the shrimp farming and mangrove development- A case study of the coastal area of Vietnam

This study was conducted to identify suitable sites for shrimp farming combined with the mangrove development (SFM) in the coastal area of central Vietnam. An integrated approach using GIS with weighted Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was adopted for the selection of sites. In this study, fifteen sub-criteria belonging to three main criteria (geographical conditions, water quality and infrastructure availability) were selected as evaluation parameters in the GIS model. The study indicated that the geographical factors are the most important for the SFM development with 0.44 weight. However, the availability of such areas is limited. Results of the integrated study indicated that SFM area for development is highly suitable: 1127.82 ha (15.57%), moderately suitable: 2056.87 ha (28.4%), marginally suitable: 2835.52 ha (39.16 %) and not suitable: 3204.36 ha (17.0 %) in the Hau basin, Vietnam. In this study, we have also used GIS-AHP-MCE methods for developing organic shrimp farming and mangrove rehabilitation.