Integrating Ecosystem Services into Land-Use Modeling to Assess the Effects of Future Land-Use Strategies in Northern Ghana

Hongmi Koo,Janina Kleemann,Christine Fürst

doi:10.3390/land9100379

Abstract

In West Africa, where the majority of the population relies on natural resources and rain-fed agriculture, regionally adapted agricultural land-use planning is increasingly important to cope with growing demand for land-use products and intensifying climate variability. As an approach to identify effective future land-use strategies, this study applied spatially explicit modeling that addresses the spatial connectivity between the provision of ecosystem services and agricultural land-use systems. Considering that the status of ecosystem services varies with the perception of stakeholders, local knowledge, and characteristics of a case study area, two adjoining districts in northern Ghana were integrated into an assessment process of land-use strategies. Based on agricultural land-management options that were identified together with the local stakeholders, 75 future land-use strategies as combinations of multiple agricultural practices were elaborated. Potential impacts of the developed land-use strategies on ecosystem services and land-use patterns were assessed in a modeling platform that combines Geographic Information System (GIS) and Cellular Automaton (CA) modules. Modeled results were used to identify best land-use strategies that could deliver multiple ecosystem services most effectively. Then, local perception was applied to determine the feasibility of the best land-use strategies in practice. The results presented the different extent of trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services delivered by future land-use strategies and their different feasibility depending on the district. Apart from the fact that findings were context-specific and scale-dependent, this study revealed that the integration of different local characteristics and local perceptions to spatially explicit ecosystem service assessment is beneficial for determining locally tailored recommendations for future agricultural land-use planning.

Highlights

The status of ecosystem services (ES) is characterized by consequences of anthropogenic environmental changes and their influence on human well-being and benefits [1,2,3]
This study suggested an assessment framework to support future land-use planning for agricultural land through integration of local knowledge into spatially explicit ES simulation modeling
Converted local knowledge and perception to model input for spatially explicit simulation allowed to understand the interrelationships between future land-use decisions by stakeholders, changes in land-use patterns, and their consequent impact on ES provision

Summary

Introduction

The status of ecosystem services (ES) is characterized by consequences of anthropogenic environmental changes and their influence on human well-being and benefits [1,2,3]. ES assessments, have been considered useful to support land-use and management planning [4]. The potential impacts of land-use decisions on the flow of ES and trade-offs and synergies between different ES help to identify future alternatives for the effective and efficient provision of ES [5,6,7]. Spatially explicit ES assessments can facilitate the integration of ES in land-use planning by providing information about potential ES mismatches, hotspots, and optimized allocation of land for specific uses [1,4,8,9]. There has been various research that incorporated such ES approaches into land-use planning globally.

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion