Assessment Of Ecosystem Services Research Articles

CUGIC: The Consolidated Urban Green Infrastructure Classification for assessing ecosystem services and biodiversity

CUGIC: The Consolidated Urban Green Infrastructure Classification for assessing ecosystem services and biodiversity

LULC Change Effects on Environmental Quality and Ecosystem Services Using EO Data in Two Rural River Basins in Thrace, Greece

Rural abandonment and associated rapid urbanization, agricultural intensification, and climate change have been key factors transforming terrestrial landscapes, with significant impacts on the environmental quality and the ecosystem services (ES) provided to human welfare. In this study, two understudied rural river basins located in Thrace, North Greece, were selected to assess changes in landscape pattern, composition, and eco-environmental quality and ecosystem services values (ESV). Cloud-based remote sensing (RS) analyses of multitemporal Landsat imagery in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform were applied for multitemporal land use/land cover changes (LULCC) quantification between 1984–2021, along with landscape pattern, eco-environmental quality, and ES assessment. Although ecosystem changes observed were not extensive over this period, eco-environmental quality appeared to be affected due to fragmentation. Preserving the ecosystem’s naturalness can enhance cultural ES to avoid further values loss originating from provisioning ES exploitation. This study highlights the strong connection between landscape configuration and eco-environmental quality, emphasizing the strong impact that anthropogenic activities have on the environment. The monitoring of the effects of LULCC on ecosystem health and the economic value of ES is crucial for the introduction of spatial planning and restoration policies.

Assessment and quantification of some short term ecosystem services in garden pea field

It is necessary to classify, quantify, and evaluate ecosystem services (ES) for understanding related ecosystem value. Garden pea (Pisums ativum L.), also called pea, herbaceous annual plant in the family leguminous, grown nearly worldwide for edible seeds. It contributes to the sustainability of the agricultural ecosystems. However, there is no information about the provision and consumption of ES in garden pea fields. The main objective of this study was to provide a first evidence base from ES provided by garden pea fields. Therefore, we developed a quantitative framework for assessing and quantifying ES of four different varieties of garden pea. For this purpose, a field experiment was carried out in the research farm of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (northeast of Iran), during 2019–2020. In this study, we developed a framework for quantifying of ES based on the modified Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA). The results showed that garden pea cultivation increased microbial respiration, soil organic matter, and carbon accumulation. Based on the results, varieties had significant effects on soil carbon accumulation. Peas Wolf and Pea Wolf cultivars with 1206.6 kg/ha carbon accumulation had the highest amount, and Reyna cultivar with −1876.9 kg/ha carbon accumulation had the lowest value. In this experiment, Peas Wolf and Utrillo cultivars provided more ES in terms of dry weight, the number of nodule, and root volume as nitrogen biofixation potential. In general, Peas Wolf compared to Utrillo cultivar was more successful in providing regulating services. However, Utrillo cultivar provided more provision services (14,520 kg/ha green yield, 23,680 kg/ha green biomass and 23,62% protein). In addition, different cultivars of garden pea had positive effects on the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to the soil.

Mapping Ecosystem Services Bundles for Spatial Planning with the AHP Technique: A Case Study in Tuscany (Italy)

Agricultural and forest ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services (ESs) fundamental to the well-being and quality of life of citizens. However, in the European context, these ecosystems are often threatened by processes of urban development, around cities, or abandonment, in mountainous or remote areas. Faced with the need for solutions oriented towards greater sustainability and resilience of socio-ecological systems, planning should contribute to rebuilding more integrated and mutually beneficial relationships between urban and rural areas, ensuring the effective production of multiple ESs. The regulation and management of ESs are complex and require scientifically sound and widely understandable policies and governance models, based on detailed assessment methods. This paper proposes a method for mapping and bundling the supply of five ESs produced in agricultural and forest areas, based on the processing of open source territorial data through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and tailored for the Tuscany region (Italy). The method integrates the land use and land cover map with other data to obtain a comprehensive ESs assessment, and then uses cluster analysis to identify bundles of ESs. Based on a first trial, the method seems to show high potentialities as a Decision Support System to promote innovative governance models for ES management.

Finding the Green Grass in the Haystack? Integrated National Assessment of Ecosystem Services and Condition in Hungary, in Support of Conservation and Planning

Human well-being needs healthy ecosystems, providing multiple ecosystem services. Therefore, the assessment of ecosystems on large scales is a priority action. In Hungary, this work (MAES-HU) took place between 2016 and 2022. Twelve ecosystem services (ES) were mapped and assessed along with several ecosystem condition (EC) indicators. Their integrated spatial analysis aimed to identify patterns of ES multifunctionality, reveal relationships between EC and ES and delineate ES bundles. The results show outstanding multifunctionality of natural ecosystem types compared with the more artificial types, emphasizing the importance of natural areas in order to fulfil human needs. Native forests provide the most varied range of services, which underlines the importance of forest management to consider multiple services. There is a positive correlation between condition and multifunctionality in forests; areas in better condition (in terms of species composition and structure) provide more services at an outstanding level. ES bundles mainly reflect the major ecosystem types, topography and forest condition. Our analysis represents an example of synthesizing national MAES results with a combination of methods. Finding ES hotspots on a national scale and connecting them with an assessment of EC may help in finding optimal strategies to balance conservation targets and competing land uses.

Assessing ecosystem services in Russia: Case studies from four municipal districts

The task of organizing ecosystem accounting and integrating the value of ecosystems and ecosystem services into the management process has been set in Russia. The municipal level is the key one in the system of ecological spatial planning. However, the analysis of the official documents on spatial planning in Russia revealed that ecosystem services are still to be integrated into them. This paper aims to develop guidelines for the formation and implementation of integrated plans for the development of rural areas in the aspect of ecosystem development. The suggested methods of ES evaluation and monetization are based on the use of open statistical data and available digital land cover maps. This way, ecosystem services were calculated in biophysical indicators by converting the area of different types of ecosystems into the demanded and supplied volumes of ecosystem services. The described approaches were approbated on four municipal districts in different federal subjects of Russia (Kiznerskiy district in the Udmurt Republic; Elizovskiy district in Kamchatskiy krai; Maikopskiy district in the Adygeya Republic; and Bobrovskiy district in Voronezh oblast). It reveals that carbon regulation makes up the major part of a total ecosystem services value in the studied districts, thus making regulating services constitute the largest share of the total supplied ecosystem services volume. Recreational and other cultural ecosystem services do not make up a considerable part of the total ES value in any district. These evaluations, on the one hand, form an incomplete and exaggerated idea of ecosystems’ value as a source of natural resources; and on the other, detract their regulating and cultural services, which are also extremely significant for the sustainable development on different spatial levels.

Artificial intelligence tools and vegetation indices combined to estimate aboveground biomass in tropical forests

Measurement of forest biomass is a time-, money-, and labor-consuming activity. Developing methodological approaches for quantifying biomass in natural ecosystems has motivated countless investigations in several vegetation types worldwide. In this study, we developed a model to estimate the above-ground biomass (AGB) in a study site spatially located in Western Pará state, Brazilian Amazon. We applied artificial neural networks and remotely sensed data for adjusting our model based on forest inventory data. We tested four vegetation indices retrieved from a Landsat-5 thematic mapper scene and assessed their correlations with the field measured AGB. We trained 286 artificial neural networks using the vegetation stratus (two phytophysiognomies: dense lowland ombrophilous forest and dense submontane ombrophilous forest) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and aerosol-free vegetation index as predictors variables of the AGB. We selected the artificial neural network model showing higher correlation coefficient and concentration of residuals in the center classes, which indicates higher predictive capabilities of biomass estimation. The generated model architecture (4-13-1) was composed by 4 predictor neurons in the input layer, 13 neurons in the hidden layer, activated by logistic functions, and a single neuron (the AGB in ton · ha − 1) in the output layer, activated by an identity function. We observed that the NDVI and aerosol free vegetation index showed the best performance to estimate the AGB in the study area. Using artificial neural network and a Landsat-5 image combined, we were able to accurately predict (estimation error of ∼20 % ) AGB in tropical forest. This is a promising methodological approach that can be applied to assess ecosystem services related to carbon stock in tropical regions.

Evaluation of ecosystem services of surface waters of Ukraine in the ecological and economic dimension

The key issues of the development of a modern system of ecological and economic evaluation indicators of biodiversity are studied. In particular, the emphasis is on the ecosystem services of surface waters. It was found that surface water ecosystems provide a number of ecosystem functions and services important for the sustainable functioning of the natural environment. Although the need for these services is constantly increasing, the capacity of aquatic ecosystems to provide such services is decreasing. To achieve the goal, the article used a system of general scientific and special methods of the modern theory of the ecosystem approach and general ecological assessment, analysis and synthesis, generalization and systematization, abstract-logical method, etc. Based on the results of the analytical assessment of the Water Strategy of Ukraine until 2050, it was found that the document presents a limited ecosystem approach and lacks indicators that indicate the need to preserve water ecosystem services and identify their ecological and economic value. In this context, scientific approaches to the evaluation of ecosystem services of surface waters are substantiated and developed, which are represented by an algorithm consisting of four consecutive steps, namely: analysis of the formation of ecological and economic evaluation of ecosystem services; study of the ecological and economic state of surface waters in Ukraine and the peculiarities of their ecosystem services; development of the methodology of ecological and economic assessment of the value dimension of ecosystem services of surface waters; development of proposals for the implementation of ecological and economic assessment of ecosystem services of surface waters in the Water Strategy of Ukraine. Further research has prospects in the direction of theoretical and methodological substantiation and development of a domestic mechanism for evaluating the ecosystem services of surface water as a component of biodiversity from the standpoint of the ecosystem approach and general ecological assessment.

Attribution of upstream-downstream transitive natural and human imprint on watershed ecosystem services variations

Local and associated regional factors commonly drive changes in ecosystem services (ES). Yet, some current studies focus on considering local drivers based on statistical methods, which may ignore the impacts of drivers in associated regions such as upstream-downstream, and consequently lead to deviation in attribution analysis and management of variations in local ES. To overcome this challenge, this study proposes an attribution analysis method of changes in ecosystem services based on emergy and partial differentiation equation (PDE), and applies it at River Basin scale to quantitively measure cross-regional causation. Taking the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China, as a case, this study identifies and assesses the specific contribution of drivers to the variations in ES from 2000 to 2020. The results show that the ES in the entire YRB increased 30%, and the ES in the upper, middle and lower reaches increased 30%, 36% and 3% respectively. All the assessed ecosystem services increased in the past two decades, among which three services including air purification (182%), climate regulation (145%) and water purification (79%) have the largest increase ratio. Natural drivers R (such as evapotranspiration, precipitation, etc.), human drivers S (land use change), significance driver τ (the significance degree of human attention to ES improvement) commonly and disproportionately drive the ES dynamics. The contribution ratios of the three above drivers to the increase in ES are 0.7:8:1, 1:9:0.8, 0.2:7:1.6 and (−7):11:4 for the entire basin, the upper, middle and lower reaches respectively. The decrease in upstream water use results in midstream lake and wetland ES increase 1.44E+18 and 7.49E+17sej during 2000–2020, accounting for 55% and 97% of lake and wetland ES in 2020 respectively, which decrease the decline ratio of midstream lake and wetland ES caused by midstream local land use transfer from water bodies to built-up land or agricultural land. This is a significant method development of the proposed attribution method to quantitatively solving causation in upstream-midstream-downstream of a River Basin. Meanwhile, this study can provide guidance for collaborative and integrated management and conservation of ecosystem services in the upper, middle and lower reaches of watersheds or other related regions.

Strategies for reducing inputs and emissions in turfgrass systems

AbstractTurfgrass systems (e.g., home lawns, commercial properties, golf courses, athletic fields, roadsides, sod farms, parks, and other green spaces) in the US employ 820,000 individuals, have a $60 billion economic impact, and cover nearly 2% (∼63,250 mi2; 163,800 km2) of the US. Turfgrass systems provide ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, oxygen production, water and air purification, improved soil health, pollinator habitat, and evaporative cooling. Associated disservices with turfgrass systems include nutrient and pesticide leaching, greenhouse gas and particulate matter emissions, low plant diversity, and site‐specific, high water consumption. The goal of recent research efforts is to maximize the services and minimize the disservices by focusing on sustainability initiatives to develop best management practices such reducing management inputs (e.g., mowing, irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticides), incorporating pollinator‐friendly spaces, adopting new technologies, quantitatively assessing ecosystem services provided, minimizing energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing carbon sequestration. This part‐review, part‐management guide summarizes these efforts, identifies knowledge gaps, and outlines how turfgrass systems can adapt to and mitigate climate change.

A Contingent Valuation-Based Method to Valuate Ecosystem Services for a Proactive Planning and Management of Cork Oak Forests in Sardinia (Italy)

The paper develops a model through a contingent valuation approach to support public authorities in the exploration and assessment of ecosystem services (ESs) generated by forest and woodlands (FOWLs). This approach is employed to the cork oak forests of the Sardinia region (Italy) due to their ability in the provision and regulation of cultural and recreational values to society. The paper describes the economic valuation of cultural ESs through the contingent valuation method (CVM) with the purpose to explore residents and tourists’ willingness to pay (WTP) preferences towards conservation, valorisation, and the management of Goceano’s cork oak forests in Sardinia. The approach may help retain suitable support for DMs, planners, technicians, and operators for a better understanding of the ESs’ role in policy decisions, leading FOWLs towards a learning process between the environment, human beings, and landscape to promote and develop a proactive landscape and forest planning and management within the region.

Understanding the dynamic changes in wetland cultural ecosystem services: Integrating annual social media data into the SolVES

As urbanization increases, the human demand for the cultural services of wetland ecosystems is growing. However, traditional cultural ecosystem service (CES) assessments are usually conducted using a focused survey over a short period, often ignoring the changes in CESs over time. Social media data have great potential for assessing dynamic changes in CESs. In this paper, we integrated social media data into the Social Value for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) model to identify and locate the CES values of Shanghai's Wusong Paotaiwan Wetland (WPW) Park in 2015, 2017, and 2019. We also quantified the inter-annual variation in the CES values through raster calculations. We found that the spatial distribution of the CES values showed a tendency towards mean values, which may be related to social media promotion, the improvements in park facilities, and visitors' play psychology of seeking differences. These results can help planners respond to visitor feedback and improve park programmes in a timely manner. Notably, the spatial distribution of the CES values varied significantly between years, which suggests that we should select data for different purposes and consider which year or years of data are most scientifically sound to facilitate reliable conclusions before conducting CES assessments.

Critical review of methods and models for biodiversity impact assessment and their applicability in the LCA context

Global biodiversity is in rapid decline and halting biodiversity loss is one of the most important challenges humanity must tackle now and in the immediate future. The five main direct drivers of biodiversity loss are climate change, pollution, land use, overexploitation of resources and the spread of invasive species, which result from indirect drivers such as unsustainable production and consumption. It is therefore of paramount importance that scientifically robust methods are developed to capture impacts on biodiversity from a value-chain perspective. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology allows to quantify the impact of products and organisations throughout their whole life cycle. In the LCA framework, several methods for biodiversity impact assessment have been developed. Building on previous reviews, this article aims to critically analyse methods and models for biodiversity impact assessment in LCA and beyond as comprehensively as possible, and to select those that may be most suitable for application in an LCA context. 64 methods were reviewed and 23 were selected for a detailed analysis based on availability of documentation, domain of application, geographical scope, potential to be used in LCA, and added value. The analysis addressed their goal and scope, data use and needs, and impact assessment characteristics, revealing strengths and weaknesses of the methods. There is currently no method that takes well into account at the same time the variety of pressures on biodiversity, ecosystems, taxonomic groups, essential biodiversity variables classes, and the fundamental aspects to consider in biodiversity impact assessments – but for each of these five criteria, we show which methods perform best. For the future development of biodiversity impact assessment, it is required to improve the coverage of drivers of biodiversity loss, increase ecosystem and taxonomic coverage, include the assessment of ecosystem services, and develop robust indicators that allow for complementary analysis of more essential biodiversity aspects.

Multidimensional Ecosystem Mapping: Towards a More Comprehensive Spatial Assessment of Nature’s Contributions to People in France

Ecosystems are experiencing significant pressure from human activities, with 1 million species at risk of extinction. This is threatening to undermine the resilience of ecosystems, which provide multiple benefits to support human existence and are essential for the support of life on Earth. A number of conceptual frameworks have been developed as a guide for the assessment of ecosystem services (ESs) and nature’s contributions to people (NCPs), including Millennium Ecosystems Assessment, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity report, France’s National Ecosystems Assessment, the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services, and the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. In this paper, we compare the existing conceptual frameworks for the assessment of ESs and NCPs and derive a unified structural framework. Several indicators for characterizing the ESs/NCPs provided are selected and integrated through normalization. On this basis, and enriched by a number of culture-specific indicators, we conduct a mapping exercise illustrating the ES/NCP provision for the whole of France in a spatially explicit form based on a 1 × 1 km scale. Finally, we generate integrated maps depicting distribution patterns of different services and contributions across the landscapes of France focusing on economic, social and ecological dimensions. The results indicate that a non-monetary assessment of the complexity and diversity of NCPs is feasible and presents tangible advantages as compared to monetary frameworks. The paper concludes that provisioning, regulating and cultural services and contributions are geographically unevenly distributed and further analysis is required to assess the degree of complementarity, feedback loops and tipping points among different services. Our pilot research clearly illustrated the feasibility of conducting a highly disaggregated multidimensional assessment of ESs/NCPs at the national scale to inform decision making.

Rapid ecosystem services assessment of Mundok Ramsar wetland in Democratic People's Republic of Korea and opportunities to improve well-being

Rapid ecosystem services assessment of Mundok Ramsar wetland in Democratic People's Republic of Korea and opportunities to improve well-being

Landscape Invariants–Order Parmeters of a Dynamic System

The article considers theoretical and methodological substantiation of identifying invariants problem in nonlinear dynamic systems. Invariance in context of stable spatio-temporal structures in a landscape was proposed by V.B. Sochava in 1961. The accumulation of long-term series of landscape observations by means of multispectral imaging made it possible to identify invariants in practice. An analysis of Landsat multispectral measurements from 1987 to 2022 for the southern taiga landscape (Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve) shows that invariants identified as order parameters primarily determine total aboveground vegetation biomass, the water content in vegetation and soils, and the intensity of photosynthesis, i.e. bioproduction process. The proposed scheme for analyzing time series of remote sensing data makes it possible to assess landscape cover at the time of survey with respect to invariants and to identify the main control parameters that determine changes in environmental conditions and self-development of geosystems. The assessment of vegetation and relief contribution to formation of invariants structure was made to reveal invariants physical meaning. The results showed that relief has little effect on order parameters, and vegetation cover make the greatest contribution to invariant structure formation. Since invariants make it possible to identify the most stationary states, they can be used to solve applied problems in agriculture and forestry, as well as in the assessment of various ecosystem services.

The trend of forest ecosystem services assessment in eastern India: a review for future research insights

Ecosystem services (ES) are becoming a burgeoning topic presently playing a crucial role in sustaining human well-being, socioeconomic growth, and addressing environmental management and sustainability. The purpose of our review was to overview research trends of the forest ecosystem services (FES) in eastern India and the research methodologies adopted to evaluate them. To systematically study the FES literature, 127 articles pertaining to the term FES during the period 1991 to 2021 were reviewed through a quantitative analysis. The analytical outcome emphasized (1) the research aspects of FES and its types along with regional distribution, (2) the scenario of FES in eastern India with respect to other ES and India, (3) the quantitative trend of FES research over 30years period, (4) the employed methodological approaches, and (5) the existing research gaps and prospects. Our findings suggest that the publication numbers are quite low in eastern India, as only 5 peer-reviewed articles were found on FES. The result also indicated that the majority of studies primarily focused on provisioning services (85.03%) and the survey/interview method gained more popularity as a primary data source. Most of the earlier studies employed basic assessments like product values or individual income. We also discussed the advantages as well as limitations of the employed methodologies. These findings further highlight the significance of valuing various FES collectively rather than individually and contribute to providing pertinent information for the FES literature scenario, which may help to strengthen forest management as well.

Projecting the impacts of the bioeconomy on Nordic land use and freshwater quality and quantity – An overview

This paper synthesizes a five-year project (BIOWATER) that assessed the effects of a developing bioeconomy on Nordic freshwaters. We used a catchment perspective and combined several approaches: comparative analyses of long-term data sets from well-monitored catchments (agricultural, with forestry, and near pristine) across Fennoscandia, catchment biogeochemical modelling and ecosystem services assessment for integration. Various mitigation measures were also studied. Benchmark Shared Socio-economic Pathways were downscaled and articulated in dialogue with national stakeholder representatives leading to five Nordic Bioeconomy Pathways (NBPs) describing plausible but different trajectories of societal development towards 2050.These were then used for catchment modelling and ecosystem service assessment. Key findings from the work synthesized here are: (a) The monitoring results from 69 catchments demonstrate that agricultural lands exported an order of magnitude more nutrients than natural catchments (medians 44 vs 4 kg P km−2 y-1 and 1450 vs 139 kg N km−2 y-1) whilst forests were intermediate (7 kg P km−2 y-1 and 200 kg N km−2 y-1). (b) Our contrasting scenarios led to substantial differences in land use patterns, which affected river flow as well as nutrient loads in two of the four modelled catchments (Danish Odense Å and Norwegian Skuterud), but not in two others (Swedish catchment C6 and Finnish Simojoki). (c) Strongly contrasting scenarios (NBP1 maximizing resource circularity versus NBP5 maximizing short-term profit) were found to lead to similar monetary estimates of total societal benefits, though for different underlying reasons – a pattern similar across the six studied Nordic catchments. (d) The ecological status of small to medium sized rivers in agricultural landscapes benefitted greatly from an increase in riparian forest cover from 10 % to 60 %. Riparian buffer strips, constructed wetlands, rewetting of ditched peatlands, and similar nature-based solutions optimize natural biogeochemical processes and thus can help in mitigating negative impacts of intensified biomass removal on water quality.

Dynamic Assessment and Change Analysis of Ecosystem Service Value Based on Physical Assessment Method in Cili County, China

The effective implementation of ecological protection policies requires the adequate assessment of temporal and spatial changes in the environment. To understand how ecosystem services can be used to track environmental changes, we carried out a study which focused on assessing the changes in the ecosystem services over time and space in Cili County, which is an important forestry region. The method we used was to evaluate the value of the regional ecological services based on the method for evaluating the value equivalent factor per unit area; then, by introducing multi-source data, the InVEST model was optimized to accurately assess the function of the regional ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, soil conservation, and water production. In addition, the values of the ecosystem services and the function assessment results were compared. Finally, based on the results of the optimized InVEST model, the value of the ecosystem services in the study area was regulated and re-evaluated. After re-evaluation, the total value of the ecosystem services in Cili county between 2000 and 2020 still showed an upward trend, increasing from CNY 26.136 billion to CNY 35.444 billion, with a total increase of CNY 9.308 billion. Compared to before the re-evaluation, the total value of the ecosystem services only increased from CNY 32.243 billion to CNY 32.473 billion, with a total increase of CNY 0.23 billion; the change in the value of the ecosystem services was more obvious, with a stronger spatial heterogeneity. The areas with high ecosystem service value in Cili County are mainly concentrated in the eastern parts, as well as the northwestern and southern parts, while the areas with low value are mainly concentrated in the central part of Cili County. The value of the central, southern, and northwestern parts of Cili County increased significantly. Such changes are closely related to China’s implementation of ecological protection policies in this region since 2000, such as returning farmland to forest and natural forest protection. The evaluation results of the ecosystem services and the method for evaluating the value equivalent factor in this study are more consistent with the changes in the ecosystem services in the study area. The dynamic assessment method of ecosystem service value proposed in this study is helpful in achieving accurate assessments of the regional ecosystem services and thus provides a useful reference for the formulation of more reasonable regional ecological protection policies.

Assessment of Ecosystem Services Provided by a Green Urban Infrastructure in Brazilian Atlantic Forest Biome Areas – Dourados, Mato Grosso Do Sul

Urban infrastructure is a challenge for municipal managers in Brazil, given the rapid urbanization that has occurred in the country and the population growth in these locations. The inclusion of green characteristics in the urban space has contributed to the human needs of residents in this space, areas that allow the filtering of pollutants in the air and water, greater absorption of rainwater, noise reduction, scenic beauty, among other characteristics that are related to ecosystem services. In this context, the objective of the study is to identify the opportunity cost for the existence of urban green areas. This was done using the methodological resources available in environmental economics, which employs the opportunity cost based on the assessment of the net benefit of conservation. Primary and secondary data were used, the sources being literature and satellite images. Considering the analysis period from 2018 to 2020. The results indicate that the opportunity cost is greater than the amounts that can be collected through the commercialization of ecosystem services, implying that the landowners of the Urban Ecological Corridor projected in the municipality of Dourados - Mato Grosso do Sul, should be financially supported to maintain these services in green areas, given their importance to people's quality of life.