Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Urban Ecosystem Service Value in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Md Rahman,György Szabó

doi:10.3390/land10080793

Abstract

Urban ecosystem services provide a wide range of services to sustain life, social relation, health, etc., and address most of the challenges, including climate change and environmental pollution. While it is recognized that the urban ecosystem substantially contributes to human well-being in cities, there is less attention to consider the value of urban ecosystem service in urban planning and policymaking. This study analyzed the land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics of city of Dhaka over the past three decades (1990–2020) to evaluate the impact of LULC on ecosystem services value (ESV). The estimation of ESV in relation to LULC has been done using the globally used benefits transfer method (BTM). Findings of the study show that built-up area has increased by 188.35% from 1990 to 2020, with an average annual growth rate is about 6.28%The analysis of ESV shows that it has decreased by 59.55% (85 million USD) from 142.72 million USD in 1990 to 57.72 million USD in 2020 due to the development of the built-up area through conversion of agricultural land, waterbodies, and forest and vegetation land. This study also identified that waterbodies are the greatest contributor to ESV. The result on the elasticity of ESV in relation to LULC implies that about 1% transition in LULC would result in about 0.33% change in total ESV during the study period. We believe that the findings of this study would serve as a reference for the policy maker and urban planner to devise appropriate land use decision to ensure sustainable urban development of Dhaka.

Highlights

Ecosystem services (ES) can be defined as the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and enrich human life [1]
Agricultural land was distributed over the northern part of the city, but in the course of time some portion of the forest and vegetation area in the southeast part was converted into agricultural land, and later most agricultural land was converted to the built-up area
Our findings regarding land use land cover (LULC) change dynamics are in close conformity with the findings of other studies: (a) agricultural land, waterbodies, and forest and vegetation show a gradual decrease; and built-up area and bare land show a gradual increase over the study period [75]; (b) initially, the proportion of waterbodies/wetland was higher, and it decreases over time [35]; (c) built-up area continues to increase over time and dominates all other LULC types [75]; and (d) a considerable portion of agricultural land, waterbodies, and forest and vegetation have been replaced by built-up area and bare land during the study period [76,77]

Summary

Introduction

Ecosystem services (ES) can be defined as the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and enrich human life [1]. Ecosystem services can be considered as the benefits human populations derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem functions [2,3]. Ecosystem services are categorized into four major groups: (a) provisioning services (e.g., food production); (b) regulatory services (e.g., climate regulation); (c) supporting services (e.g., pollination); and (d) cultural services (e.g., recreation). These ecosystem services provide many functions to human life [4]. Urban ecosystem services contribute directly or indirectly to human well-being providing many functions, including food supply, water supply, waste treatment, regulation of the urban heat island effect, clean air, water filtration, noise reduction, pollination, and climate regulation, etc. A healthy ecosystem can ensure urban sustainability and contribute to achieving sustainable development [9,10]

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Discussion

Conclusion