An AHP-Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Model for Mining Geo-Environmental Assessment: A Case Study of the Huainan Coal Mine Area, China

Abstract

Mining activities have caused severe ecological and environmental problems worldwide. Accurate and reliable assessment methods are essential for identifying ecological changes in mining areas and for supporting effective preventive and mitigation measures to reduce environmental damage, improve ecosystem quality, and maintain suitable living conditions for humans. However, significant challenges remain in the precise evaluation of environmental changes in mining regions. Huainan City, located in Anhui Province, is one of China’s most intensively exploited coal-mining areas, where decades of extraction have led to pronounced geological instability and ecological degradation. Taking the Huainan mining area as a case study, this paper applies the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) combined with a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model to systematically assess environmental quality from multiple perspectives. The evaluation results are highly consistent with field observations and provide reliable scientific evidence to support ecological restoration planning and risk mitigation. Furthermore, this assessment framework demonstrates strong applicability and scalability, and can be extended from local and regional levels to broader environmental assessment of other coal-mining regions in China and worldwide.