Ahmad Nazri Muhamad Ludin

Inter-Municipal Landfill Site Selection Using Analytic Network Process

Selecting the most suitable landfill site is important to prevent any negative ecological and socio-economic effects. Spatial analysis takes into consideration local environmental regulations and adopted acceptance criteria that are important considerations in site selection. This paper is a case study to determine the suitability of an inter-municipal solid waste landfill site for the city of Khomeynishahr and its six adjacent cities, with a total population of half a million people. A multi-criteria evaluation method emphasising geographical information systems (GIS) techniques was used to identify suitable landfill sites. A combination of Boolean logic, Fuzzy logic and Analytic Network Process (ANP) was used for prioritising the associated criteria and selecting a suitable landfill site. This method is capable of being applied to complex problems with uncertainty and non-hierarchical structure and allows for the consideration of interdependence relationships of decision criteria within and between levels. Taking advantage of the ANP method, the selected landfill site priorities can be identified by considering the variation and relative importance of decision criteria for each site, which cannot be considered in other decision-making methods, such as Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results showed the significant importance of residential area and water resources protection in landfill site selection. This study indicates that the integrated method can provide environmental decision makers and planners with a promising tool.

Socio-ecological systems and biodiversity conservation in African city: Insights from Kano Emir's Palace gardens

Urban biodiversity management in most African countries is at a peripheral stage. At the same time, African urban areas substantially remain poorly planned and intensively growing. This study explores the socio-ecological system as an alternative approach to explore African indigenous urban biodiversity management. For this purpose, we mixed conventional scientific investigation methods to explain the biodiversity conservation in the ancient gardens of the Kano palace in northern Nigeria. This multidisciplinary approach has successfully unveiled a harmonious relationship of humans and ecosystems in the context of African cultural values and heritage systems. The paper reveals that the palace gardens offer an avenue for intersection of a wide range of ecological and cultural activities. These include biodiversity conservation, recreation, security and surveillance, climate hazards proofing, and sacred dimensions. The findings of this study show that it is possible to address challenges confronting Africa’s urban biodiversity through the combination of scientific and indigenous systems.

A spatial decision support system (SDSS) for sustainable tourism planning in Johor Ramsar sites, Malaysia

The need for a sustainable approach in tourism development is very often addressed among the academia, the authorities and the stakeholders, as well as the apparent need for tools, which will guide the decision environment in evaluation and planning. This research aims to identify conservation and compatible areas for tourism development in Johor Ramsar sites, using spatial modeling in geographic information system (GIS). The study describes a methodological approach based on the integrated use of GIS and multi criteria decision evaluation (MCE) to identify nature conservation and development priorities among the wetland areas. A set of criteria was defined to evaluate wetland biodiversity conservation and development. Having defined the criteria, the next step was selecting suitable indicators and variables to measure the selected criteria. Subsequently the criteria were evaluated from conservation and tourism development point of view. These criteria were then weighted using the pair wise comparison technique of MCE and the results were integrated into GIS. Several conservation scenarios were generated so as to simulate different evaluation perspectives. The scenarios were then compared to highlight the most feasible and to propose a conservation and development strategy for the wetland areas. The generation and comparison of conservation and development scenarios highlighted the critical issues of the decision problem. This study represents an important contribution to effective decision-making because it allows one to gradually narrow down a problem.

Delineating urban growth limit for managing urbanisation in Iskandar Malaysia

Statistics have revealed that the rapid pace of urbanisation has become a massive concern of many regions. Thus, policies of urban containment (green belt, urban growth limit, and urban service) are adopted in land-use management strategies to curb urban sprawl and preserve green areas. This paper aims to delineate Urban Growth Limit (UGL), the spatial urban containment tool deployed by authorities and planners to separate urban areas from non-urban areas while promoting compact development in Iskandar Malaysia. In order to achieve the aim, the GIS Binary Urban Suitability Model is developed. The developed model becomes the basis in delineating the proposed UGL. Nevertheless, these preliminary results give a unique perspective and idea how UGL could be implemented to coordinate urban expansion while preserving environment in the future.

Spatiotemporal analysis of the spread of meningococcal meningitis in kaduna metropolis, 2007 – 2011

Meningococcal meningitis is an airborne disease that has been a threat to human life for over a century now. This study aims to describe the spatiotemporal spread of Meningococcal meningitis in the population residing in Kaduna metropolis. All the reported cases (suspected and confirmed) within the Kaduna metropolis from 2007 to 2011 were collected from files of the patients. Only patients who are resident in Kaduna metropolis were considered. For each year, the directional distribution, standard distance and the spatiotemporal pattern were explored. The analysis of the directional distribution shows the direction and the angle that the spread is more biased to at the different years. Standard distance shows the different areas of coverage for the spread of the disease for those five years which points to those areas that need more attention. The spatiotemporal results revealed that some specific neighbourhoods within the metropolis had the cases reoccurring within the five year period especially at the western and central parts of the metropolis. This indicates that much more attention is needed in those areas as regards preventive strategies by the policy makers and the stake holders. The spread of Meningococcal meningitis disease in Kaduna metropolis is much more dominant in some specific neighbourhood.