Regional scale mapping of ecosystem services supply, demand, flow and mismatches in Southern Myanmar

Melanie Feurer,Henri Rueff,Enrico Celio,Andreas Heinimann,Juergen Blaser,Aung Myin Htun,Julie Gwendolin Zaehringer

doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101363

Melanie Feurer, Henri Rueff + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101363

Copy DOI

Abstract

Mapping ecosystem service (ES) supply, demand, and flow – and identifying supply/demand mismatches – has become a focus of ES research and has benefitted from recent advances in modelling techniques and their combination with Geographic Information Systems. But few studies have been done in data-scarce tropical forest frontiers and these were limited in terms of area, land uses, and number and types of ES. Aiming to evolve contemporary approaches, we used Bayesian networks to model and map nine ES across Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region for local stakeholders. Results show that while there is a high supply of multiple ES at regional level, demand for ES in urban and rapidly developing agricultural areas is not fully covered. Further, we identified a clear connection between land tenure and ES outcomes for rural communities. Agricultural concessions and protected areas with restricted access for the local population were related to lower ES flows and more supply/demand mismatches than community forests or untenured land. For future research on local ES outcomes in tropical forest frontiers, we recommend combined mismatch and flow analyses under consideration of tenurial rights.

Highlights

Human–nature interrelations are becoming ever more apparent in the joint search for solutions to global goals of biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, economic development, and human wellbeing (UN, 2015)
ecosystem service (ES) supply Results show that six of the ES investigated are in high supply in Tanintharyi, with values of ≥ 4 in most parts of the region (Fig. 2)
Protected areas are often established with the goal of safeguarding regulating services, our find ings indicate that ES supply for local stakeholders is just as high outside of those where forests remain intact

Summary

Introduction

Human–nature interrelations are becoming ever more apparent in the joint search for solutions to global goals of biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, economic development, and human wellbeing (UN, 2015). In forest frontier landscapes, trade-offs almost al ways occur in efforts to achieve both ecological and social goals, espe cially if policies fail to take a holistic approach Within such landscapes, the concept of ecosystem services (ES) (Costanza et al, 2017) is highly useful for assessing the multiple benefits people obtain from different landscapes. First popularized in 1997 (Costanza et al, 1997), the concept was applied at a larger scale in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005) and has since seen various adaptations It has evolved into further concepts, such as that of nature’s contribution to people by the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Díaz et al, 2018). Spatial assessments of ES have become increasingly relevant and have evolved by including demand (Schroter et al, 2012; Wolff et al, 2015) as well as flows (Bagstad et al, 2013; Baroet al., 2016; Schirpke et al, 2019)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion