Developing a rural ecological assessment index for Jiangsu Province, China

Rapid rural development in China has put rural ecology at risk, which has raised questions about whether rural development is synonymous with rural ecological damage. In response to this, the Chinese government has proposed ecological revitalization as a critical strategy for the country's rural revitalization initiatives. A good rural ecological revitalization strategy can be formulated based on a comprehensive assessment of ecological health. However, attempts to develop a complete index for assessing rural ecology has yielded diverse and inadequate results. This study used the Delphi Technique and Analytical Hierarchy Process methods to develop a rural ecological assessment index, to address this gap. A literature review, combined with expert consultations and screening, resulted in a multi-level rural ecological assessment index. This index is comprised of three firstlevel indices, six second-level indices, and 21 third-level indicators. According to the pairwise comparison and the weightings of the experts' judgment, ecological protection and construction are the highest priority areas in rural ecological assessment. At the second level: living environment, direct drinking water quality, life prevention, greening construction, agricultural production control, and vegetation protection are priorities. We also discovered that all 21 indicators had considerably greater weightings and relevance than similar indicators found in the literature. Consistency testing revealed that the results are acceptable and free from logical errors. Based on the findings of this study, the government should embrace a comprehensive assessment of rural ecology and take into account priority areas when formulating a rural ecological revitalization strategy to conserve the rural ecology.