Understanding typhoon-induced vegetation loss and potential ecosystem disservices from land use zonings perspective in high-density Hong Kong

Abstract

While cities are embracing nature through urban greening and nature conservation, vegetation in typhoon-prone cities is facing stress from intense typhoon disturbances. Limited studies have investigated vegetation loss and its potential ecosystem disservices in the aftermath of typhoons from a land use zoning perspective. Therefore, we (1) compared vegetation losses from three 2023 category 3–4 typhoons in Hong Kong across all land uses in protected and non-protected areas, (2) identified hot spots and cold spots, and (3) weighed the annual average daily traffic and urban volumetric density with vegetation loss rates to generate a Disservice Risk Index for analysis. Results suggest that vegetation loss rate in non-protected areas was higher (7.23%) than in protected areas (1.57%). Within protected areas, country parks had the lowest loss rate (0.11%) and the highest percentage of cold spots (79.4%). In contrast, transportation land use has the highest loss rate of 18.04% and the highest percentage of hot spots (17.9%) within non-protected areas. Ecosystem disservices are potentially more adverse in the city center, which requires immediate preventive measures. This study provides timely urban greening and conservation implications for typhoon-prone cities to allocate vegetation that maximizes ecosystem services while minimizing disservices under frequent typhoon disturbances.