Abattoir Site Suitability Modeling Using a Geographic Information System and Multi-Criteria Evaluation–A Case Study of Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia

An abattoir is an essential urban plant that provides services to the community by slaughtering animals, examining, and certifying carcasses, and transporting them to butchers in a residential area hygienically. However, development activities, rapid population growth, and expansion of urban and industrial areas have caused abattoirs to face environmental hazards induced by some neighboring practices; this condition is often the same or worse within and nearby areas of some municipal abattoirs in Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to model and identify the suitable locations with the utmost potential to contribute to the establishment of environmentally sound, socially acceptable, and economically feasible abattoirs in Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia. We applied an integrated modeling approach using an automated Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Multi-Criteria evaluation (MCE) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The criteria evaluation for suitable site identification and mapping was based on experts' references accompanied by 14 environmental and socioeconomic factors— topographic features (elevation and slopes), land use and land cover, wind direction, solar radiation, and proximity to roads, railways, industrial sites, social services, hydrowells, bus stations, high-tension lines, distance from the airport, and streams—adopted from literature and generated from open-source data. The abattoir suitability map was produced using a linear combination operation after individual factors were weighted and reclassified to a standard scale divided into four classes ranging from restricted to highly suitable. Based on the applied methods, the analysis results revealed that 14.33% of the area was highly suitable, 43.67% moderately to less suitable, and 42% restricted. Moreover, the optimal candidate site for abattoir development with good access to roads and railways covering an area of 1 km2 has been found in the northern part of the city. Hence, municipal planners and decision-makers can use the study's findings as a baseline for sustainable abattoir establishment while supporting future efforts to reduce the adverse environmental risks of abattoirs and meat-processing operations to surrounding communities.