Analytic Hierarchy Process for Stakeholder Participation in Integrated Water Resources Management

Abstract

This paper focuses on the applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) to develop a model for water resource management in the Pranburi watershed by using stakeholder participation. The hierarchy model structure of the Pranburi watershed was developed by the experts based on IWRM and classified into 4 criteria, 15 sub-criteria, and 3 alternatives. The questionnaire method was the tool used for obtaining a weighing for comparison between the pairs of criteria obtained from community representatives. The finding revealed that the important criteria are the environmental factors. The highest ranked of the alternatives is the watershed planning strategy. These results implied that community focused stakeholder participation in the decision-making process for water resources in Pranburi watershed gave a positive outcome. This research clearly presented the capability of the AHP approach integrates with IWRM principle for water resource planning. The AHP approach can analyze the community representative’s relevant data before decision making, by applying pairwise comparison of the AHP technique, can reduce bias during decision making. More importantly, the government should support collaboration with local officers and the community in the decision making policy on water resource planning.