Ecosystem services change in response to land use land cover dynamics in Paschim Bardhaman District of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Ecosystem is the basic structural and functional unit of ecology which provides various unique and fundamental services for the people right from the providing of food and shelter to regulating the climate and environment of any region either directly or indirectly. However, the rise of urban industrial society witnessed the uncontrolled resource exploitation, manifold increase of pollution, loss of biodiversity, unprecedented population growth, climate change etc. All these leads to ecological crises as the ecosystem services are facing a gradual decrease. In the light of that the present study has been carried on the Paschim Barddhaman district of West Bengal, India where there is a long history of industrialization and urbanization to examine the present status of ecosystem service in reference with the land use change. The study shows that land use and land cover are the crucial driver of loss of ecosystem services. Overall, ESV values fluctuated massively for the built-up area and agricultural land and remain static to some extent for vegetation. Similarly ESV, its response to land use and finally elasticity value also analyzed for the sub district level to understand the spatial variation.