Prioritization of Environmental Sensitive Spots in Studies of Environmental Impact Assessment to Select the Preferred Option, Based on AHP and GIS Compound in the Gas Pipeline Project

Environmental assessments are essential in order to align the process of country's progress towards sustainable development. It is important for the project to be implemented in direction of sustainable development, which is to carry out a project in such a way that in both short and long term, the greatest advantages and the least harm are inflicted on the environment, economy, communities, and culture. Environmental assessment of gas pipelines is classified as a linear projects; therefore, the design and implementation of an appropriate method in accordance with the project's linearity, due to the use of GIS tools and multi-criteria decision-making methods, can be a good innovation for this study, in comparison to previous similar projects. The purpose of this study is to identify the best option for gas pipelines. Once the project's study scope is specified, the study based the sensitive environmental parameters of the area (based on the requirements of environmental impact assessment reports) on two methods of Analyzing Hierarchical Process (AHP) and overlaying methods for sub-parameters, ranking and prioritizing the area of evaluation. Based on the results, the first and second priorities belong to the parameter of distance and position in the protected areas with a weight of 29.9% and hydrology with a weight of 24.7%, followed by slope, vegetation, land use, and fault, which are ranked third to seventh, respectively. After identifying the best map option, the study extracts the critical points for the construction of pipelines, identifies the negative effects of the project, and presents the environmental impacts and preventive measures, reduction and compensation of negative effects in both construction and operation phases, along with a summary of the Environmental Management Program (EMP).