Identify and Assess Hydropower Project’s Multidimensional Social Impacts with Rough Set and Projection Pursuit Model

Abstract

To realize the coordinated and sustainable development of hydropower projects and regional society, comprehensively evaluating hydropower projects’ influence is critical. Usually, hydropower project development has an impact on environmental geology and social and regional cultural development. Based on comprehensive consideration of complicated geological conditions, fragile ecological environment, resettlement of reservoir area, and other factors of future hydropower development in each country, we have constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system of hydropower projects, including 4 first-level indicators of social economy, environment, safety, and fairness, which contain 26 second-level indicators. To solve the problem that existing models cannot evaluate dynamic nonlinear optimization, a projection pursuit model is constructed by using rough set reduction theory to simplify the index. Then, an accelerated genetic algorithm based on real number coding is used to solve the model and empirical study is carried out with the Y hydropower station as a sample. The evaluation results show that the evaluation index system and assessment model constructed in our paper effectively reduce the subjectivity of index weight. Applying our model to the social impact assessment (SIA) of related international hydropower projects can not only comprehensively analyze the social impact of hydropower projects but also identify important social influencing factors and effectively analyze the social impact level of each dimension. Furthermore, SIA assessment can be conducive to project decision-making, avoiding social risks and social stability.

Attaining multiple sustainable development goals through storage hydropower development amidst community vulnerabilities

“…However, the scope of this paper is limited to the bottom‐up vulnerability analysis and assessment of the SDGs of the BHGP qualitatively. Nevertheless, we have found several scientific analyses such as life cycle assessment (Aung et al, 2020; Gemechu & Kumar, 2022), environmental and social impact assessment (An et al, 2020; Niță et al, 2023); economic analysis (Choudhury & Dey Choudhury, 2021; Kumar & Saini, 2022); multi‐criteria decision analysis (Liu et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2021) and risk assessment (Bradford, 2022; El Baradei et al, 2022), among others in contemporary literature that can be carried out for the BGHP as a continuation of this research to objectively quantify potential benefits of the project on the overall society. This information could be meaningful in making informed decisions at the policy level for sustainable development of Nepal.…”

Social Stability Risk Diffusion of Large Complex Engineering Projects Based on an Improved SIR Model: A Simulation Research on Complex Networks

“…and taking its derivative, we can get 1) � e − τ > 0, and f ′ (0) � 1 − τ < 0, f ″ (R) is always greater than 0, there are two solutions of 0 and R s in formula (11), and 0 < R s < 1. is shows that for the parameters p(x), α, and μ, no matter what the value is, when the network reaches a steady state, there are two possible situations for the proportion of rational people, that is, there is no diffusion threshold.…”

“…Scholars' research mainly focuses on two aspects. On the one hand, from the perspective of social stability, risk assessment to construct an assessment index system and model for empirical research is of great importance [10,11]. Wu et al [12] established an assessment index system about social stability risks of major water conservancy projects in fragile eco-environment regions (FEER), and by using the set pair analysis (SPA) and the principal component analysis (PCA) methods, they established an assessment model for social stability risks, which was applied to the major water conservancy projects in Shaanxi Province, China.…”

Research on Network Public Opinion in War Damage Incident of Major Water Conservancy Projects

“…For instance, the physical-mature-human theory is applied to land requisition and resettlement in water conservancy projects that determine the index value of risk factors [3]. Furthermore, an evaluation of indicators for hydropower projects was conducted, that simplifies and enhances the indicators' objectivity [4]. However, macro models lack a comprehensive analysis of the interactions among social network participants, thus preventing the revelation of complex networks based on social connections, and the exposure of the impact of stakeholder interaction on conflict escalation.…”