DEMATEL operation as supporting tool in defining Strategic issue of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): A case study of SEA for development plan of Jombang Municipality

Abstract

The difficulty in performing Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the municipal development planning process has not merely concerned with aspects such as time, data, and budget for the project. One crucial problem involves the limitation of knowledge and practical capability of the local government to conduct the analysis. At the municipal level, defining the environmental issue has become a catastrophe in the decision-making process. Most Indonesian municipal governments have difficulties in drafting the most strategic environmental issue regarding mess ecological phenomena. Meanwhile, the most strategic issue plays vital roles for developing the scenario of the development plan. This paper aims to demonstrate the application of the DEMATEL Technique in defining the strategic environmental issue at a municipal level. In addition, this paper examines the SEA process of Jombang Municipality, especially the conducted analysis in assisting the municipal government decision-making towards Jombang's most strategic environmental issue. As a result, the DEMATEL has proved to be the effective technique to draw the logical interrelation map among the critical environmental issues. Further, upon applying the interrelation map, the most influencing issue for others are feasible to be identified and defined as the most strategic environmental issue.