EXPLAINING MUNICIPAL ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION PERFORMANCE THROUGH INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY PARTICIPATORY GOVERNANCE AND FUZZY DEMATEL ANALYSIS IN SOUTH INDIA

Abstract

Effective environmental remediation requires not only strategic environmental assessment and pollution prediction but also capable local institutions that translate environmental priorities into coordinated administrative action. This study establishes a territorial framework that analyzes how six dimensions of governance (governance institutional capacity, coordination with intergovernmental agencies, citizen engagement, regulatory enforcement, financial resource availability, and digital environmental transparency) are interrelated and affect environmental remediation of municipalities in South India. Some research has focused on municipal sustainability, community environmental governance some have focused on, but the relation between the three is still not linked together within the same analytical approach. To overcome this issue, the study uses a Fuzzy DEMATEL, which provides support for handling uncertainties in judgments of experts and can detect causal relationships between dimensions of governance. Structured linguistic assessment instrument will be utilized to gather primary data from the municipal administrators, environmental practitioners, researchers, and governance practitioners. The analysis will separate out and display the cause and effect group dimension and its relationship with the other group will be understood. The proposed system will be able to give a systematic perspective of institutional and administrative arrangements linked to the process of remediation of the environment. The study is relevant to the field of environmental governance as it incorporates aspects of various dimensions of governance into a single analytical framework and a framework linking impacts to governance.