Time to act: The criticality of ports in adapting to the impacts posed by climate change

This chapter explores a model for the assessment of green port development through the identification of the key indexes in the model. It investigates assessment grades for each criterion, converts quantitative criteria to qualitative ones by employing a fuzzy membership function and applies the evidential reasoning (ER) approach to synthesize the assessment results. The assessment model consists of three levels. The top level reflects the model\u27s goal, which is to assess the development level of green ports. The second level is constructed according to the drivers, pressures, states, impacts, and responses (DPSIR) framework which was introduced in the late 1990s and then applied in the evaluation of sustainable development. This framework enabling the integration of different types of indexes concerning environmental, social and economic issues, has been successfully implemented in the evaluation of the modernization of inland port and shipping management. The indexes in the bottom level are chosen in terms of their associated elements in the upper level