Spatial analyses of threats to ecosystem service hotspots in Greater Durban, South Africa

Background Population growth at all scales and rapid rates of urbanization, particularly in the global South, are placing increasing pressure on ecosystems and their ability to provide services essential for human well-being. The spatial consideration of threats to ecosystem services related to changes in land use is necessary in order to avoid undue impacts on society due to the loss or reduced supply of ecosystem services. This study assesses the potential threats of land use change from strategic and local development proposals to ecosystem services in the city of Durban. Methods We analysed the spatial relationship between five categories of ecosystem service hotspots (carbon storage, water yield, sediment retention, nutrient retention and flood attenuation) and urban land use change related to selected strategic planning proposals, development proposals and sand-mining applications in Durban, South Africa (eThekwini Municipality) with a view to determining the consequences for progress towards a more sustainable development path in the city. We identified the potential levels of threat related to habitat destruction or transformation for the five categories of ecosystem services and a subset of 13 ecosystem service hotspots, using GIS spatial analysis tools. Results The results show that on average, should Durban’s strategic development plans be realised, approximately 42% loss of ecosystem service hotspots is expected in the two municipal town-planning regions assessed. With respect to development applications between 2009 and 2012, approximately 36% of all environmental impact assessments and 84% of sand mining applications occurred within ecosystem service hotspots within Durban. Discussion The findings highlight the tension between short-term development pressures and longer-term sustainability goals and confirm that current planning and development proposals pose a threat to ecosystems and their ability to deliver services that support human well-being in Durban. We suggest practical solutions to include ecosystem services into local government decision-making.

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Valuation of Ecosystem Services in South Africa, 2001–2019

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132011262 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (20) ◽

pp. 11262

Author(s):

Mohamed A. M. Abd Elbasit ◽

Jasper Knight ◽

Gang Liu ◽

Majed M. Abu-Zreig ◽

Rashid Hasaan

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Land Cover ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Economic Value ◽

Economic Changes ◽

Sensing Model ◽

Over Time

Although changes in ecosystems in response to climate and land-use change are known to have implications for the provision of different environmental and ecosystem services, quantifying the economic value of some of these services can be problematic and has not been widely attempted. Here, we used a simplified raster remote sensing model based on MODIS data across South Africa for five different time slices for the period 2001–2019. The aims of the study were to quantify the economic changes in ecosystem services due to land degradation and land-cover changes based on areal values (in USD ha−1 yr−1) for ecosystem services reported in the literature. Results show progressive and systematic changes in land-cover classes across different regions of South Africa for the time period of analysis, which are attributed to climate change. Total ecosystem service values for South Africa change somewhat over time as a result of land-use change, but for 2019 this calculated value is USD 437 billion, which is ~125% of GDP. This is the first estimation of ecosystem service value made for South Africa at the national scale. In detail, changes in land cover over time within each of the nine constituent provinces in South Africa mean that ecosystem service values also change regionally. There is a clear disparity between the provinces with the greatest ecosystem service values when compared to their populations and contribution to GDP. This highlights the potential for untapped ecosystem services to be exploited as a tool for regional sustainable development.

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Environmental deterioration in rapid urbanisation: evidence from assessment of ecosystem service value in Wujiang, Suzhou

Environment Development and Sustainability ◽

10.1007/s10668-019-00582-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 331-349 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Li Yu ◽

Yinchao Lyu ◽

Chun Chen ◽

Charles L. Choguill

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Well Being ◽

Urban Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Service Value ◽

Service Value ◽

Environmental Deterioration

AbstractLand use change is the most prominent feature of Chinese urbanisation. In China, the expansion of land consumed for urban development is inevitable given the rapid increases in the urban economy and urban population, but also in meeting the population’s increasing demand for better quality of life. This paper is based on a research study of Wujiang district in Suzhou, which is considered representative of many of the rapid urbanisation areas within the nation. The objective is to develop an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of land use change and how this change contributes to environmental deterioration, as assessed by changes in the ecosystem service value (ESV). In this study, ESV is defined as the environmental products and functions provided for human well-being. Based on local planning documents, Landsat TM remote-sensing images and field surveys, the research analyses the cost to the environment when traditional land uses are transformed into urbanisation. The research demonstrates that conversion to urban land use which ignores the limit and capacity of the environment can generate significant environmental costs, as assessed by ESV, which in turn, can lead to a deterioration of quality of life for inhabitants, the exact opposite of the original intention. The research demonstrates that by mapping the spatial distribution of ecological service values, ESV can be used as a guide to urban sustainable development.

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Anthropogenic Modifications and River Ecosystem Services: A Landscape Perspective

Water ◽

10.3390/w12102706 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 2706 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anjana Ekka ◽

Saket Pande ◽

Yong Jiang ◽

Pieter van der Zaag

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Surface Modifications ◽

Water Transfer ◽

Service Research ◽

Sand Mining ◽

Land Use Pattern ◽

Basin Water ◽

Anthropogenic Modifications

The process of development has led to the modification of river landscapes. This has created imbalances between ecological, economic, and socio-cultural uses of ecosystem services (ESs), threatening the biotic and social integrity of rivers. Anthropogenic modifications influence river landscapes on multiple scales, which impact river-flow regimes and thus the production of river ESs. Despite progress in developing approaches for the valuation ecosystem goods and services, the ecosystem service research fails to acknowledge the biophysical structure of river landscape where ecosystem services are generated. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to synthesize the literature to develop the understanding of the biocomplexity of river landscapes and its importance in ecosystem service research. The review is limited to anthropogenic modifications from catchment to reach scale which includes inter-basin water transfer, change in land-use pattern, sub-surface modifications, groundwater abstractions, stream channelization, dams, and sand mining. Using 86 studies, the paper demonstrates that river ESs largely depend on the effective functioning of biophysical processes, which are linked with the geomorphological, ecological, and hydrological characteristics of river landscapes. Further, the ESs are linked with the economic, ecological, and socio-cultural aspect. The papers show that almost all anthropogenic modifications have positive impact on economic value of ESs. The ecological and socio-cultural values are negatively impacted by anthropogenic modifications such as dams, inter-basin water transfer, change in land-use pattern, and sand mining. The socio-cultural impact of ground-water abstraction and sub-surface modifications are not found in the literature examined here. Further, the ecological and socio-cultural aspects of ecosystem services from stakeholders’ perspective are discussed. We advocate for linking ecosystem service assessment with landscape signatures considering the socio-ecological interactions.

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Projecting effects of land use change on human well-being through changes in ecosystem services

Ecological Modelling ◽

10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109358 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 440 ◽

pp. 109358

Author(s):

Susan H. Yee ◽

E. Paulukonis ◽

C. Simmons ◽

M. Russell ◽

R. Fulford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Well Being ◽

Effects Of Land Use

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Response of Ecological Services Value to Land Use Change in the Shiyang River Basin: A Case Study in Wuwei Region

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.518-523.5116 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 518-523 ◽

pp. 5116-5120

Author(s):

Pei Ji Shi ◽

Xue Bin Zhang ◽

Jun Luo ◽

Xue Min Zhang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Main Part ◽

Land Use Pattern ◽

Shiyang River Basin ◽

Unused Land

Based on the detailed survey of land use change in Shiyang river basin, referencing Costanza, and Xie et al’ research results of the value of ecosystem services, this article probed the variation of land use and value of ecosystem service in Wuwei region. The results are: from 1997 to 2006, the area of woodland, construction land and garden land are increasing, while farmland, grassland, water and unused land are continuing to decrease. Land-use intensity is gradually increasing, the land use pattern towards to a centralized style. The values of ecosystem services are overall upward, and change faster than ever. The main part of the value of ecosystem service is constituted by the value of grassland, woodland and farmland. So it’s important to control the expansion of urban construction, strength the protection of the water, restore and enhance regional ecosystem services in the future.

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The Influence of Land Use Change on Ecosystem Service Value in Shangzhou District

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16081321 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. 1321 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Keyue Yuan ◽

Fei Li ◽

Haijuan Yang ◽

Yiming Wang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Ecosystem Service Value ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Service Value ◽

Ecological Service ◽

And Function ◽

The Impact

Land use change has an impact on the ecosystem service value because it changes the structure and function of ecosystems. This paper analyzed the changes in land use during the period from 2000 to 2015 in Shangzhou district, and used the equivalent value of ecological services per unit area of land ecosystem combining the natural and economic conditions of Shangzhou district. Based on this method, the ecological service value of Shangzhou district was estimated, and the impact of land use change on the ecological service value was analyzed. The results showed that: (1) the main types of land use in Shangzhou district were grassland, woodland and farmland, among which the contribution rate of woodland to the value of local ecosystem services was the highest; (2) the overall trend in the ecosystem service value in Shangzhou district increased between 2000 and 2015, from 10.74 × 108 yuan in 2000 to 20.32 × 108 yuan in 2015, which is the result of the combined effects of regional economic development and changes in the natural environment and land use patterns; and (3) the main reason for the value increase of ecosystem services in Shangzhou district between 2000 and 2015 was that the grain-for-green policy transformed a considerable amount of farmland into woodland, while the main reasons for a decline in value was the expansion of built-up land that occupied other types of land.

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Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Ecosystem Service Value Determined by Land-Use Changes in the Urbanization of Anhui Province, China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16245104 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (24) ◽

pp. 5104 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sai Hu ◽

Longqian Chen ◽

Long Li ◽

Bingyi Wang ◽

Lina Yuan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Water Area ◽

Anhui Province ◽

Ecosystem Service Value ◽

Service Value ◽

Study Results ◽

The Impact

Urbanization-induced land-use change will lead to variations in the demand and supply of ecosystem services, thus significantly affecting regional ecosystem services. The continuous degradation of ecosystem functions has become a serious problem for humanity to solve. Therefore, quantitative analysis of the corresponding impact of land-use change on ecosystem service value (ESV) is important to socio-economic development and ecological protection. The Anhui province in China has experienced rapid urbanization in recent years, and ecological environmental remediation and protection have become important goals for regional development. In this paper, the province of Anhui has been selected as a case of study, we analyzed the land-use change using Landsat images from 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. We then adjusted the equivalent factor of ESV per unit area and estimated the ESV of Anhui province from 2000 to 2015 to analyze the impact of land-use change on ESV. Our results show that (1) paddy field is the main land-use type in Anhui province, the built-up land area has continuously increased, and the water area has continuously decreased; (2) the total ESV of Anhui province decreased from 30,015.58 × 107 CNY in 2000 to 29,683.74 × 107 CNY in 2015 (the rate of change was −1.11%), and regulating services make the greatest contribution to ESV; and (3) land-use change has led to severe ESV variations, especially for the expansion of water area and built-up land. Our study results provide useful insights for the development of land-use management and environmental protection policies in Anhui province.

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Assessing the impact of land-use change for solar park development in the UK: implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1271 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Fabio Carvalho ◽

Alona Armstrong ◽

Mark Ashby ◽

Belinda Howell ◽

Hannah Montag ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Indicator Species ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Arable Land ◽

Food Plants ◽

Ipcc Report ◽

The Impact

According to the latest IPCC report, 70 to 85% of electricity generation worldwide will need to come from renewable sources of energy by 2050 if countries are to meet internationally agreed greenhouse gas emissions targets. In the rush to decarbonise energy supplies to meet such targets, solar parks (SPs) have proliferated around the world, with uncertain implications for the biodiversity and ecosystem service (ES) provision of hosting ecosystems. SPs necessitate significant land-use change that could disproportionately affect the local environment compared to other low-carbon sources.In Britain, SPs are commonly built on intensive arable land and managed as grasslands. This offers both risks and opportunities for ecosystem health, yet evidence for assessing ecosystem consequences is scarce. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand how net environmental gains can be integrated into land-use change for solar energy development to address the current biodiversity and climate crises.We used vegetation data from over 70 SPs and 50 countryside survey plots (1 km2) in England and Wales to assess the effects of land-use change for SPs on plant diversity and ES provision. We assessed ten habitat indicator variables (e.g., species richness, larval food plants, forage grasses, bird food plants) associated to functionally important plant species that have the potential to enhance ecosystem service delivery.SPs showed higher diversity of habitat indicator species than arable land and improved grasslands, with vegetation between solar arrays showing higher numbers of species important for ES provision (e.g., N-fixing species important for nutrient cycling) than vegetation under solar panels. Overall, the diversity of habitat indicator species seemed highly dependent on former land-use, showing SPs have the potential to enhance ecosystem services provision if built on degraded agricultural land.Developing this understanding will enable optimisation of SP design and management to ensure delivery of ecosystem co-benefits from this growing land-use.

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Entwining Ecosystem Services, Land Use Change and Human Well-Being by Nitrogen Flows

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127442 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 127442

Author(s):

Xiaobin Dong ◽

Jiahui Ren ◽

Peng Zhang ◽

Yan Jin ◽

Ranran Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Well Being ◽

Nitrogen Flows

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Drivers and Constraints of Land use Transitions on Western Grasslands: Insights from a California Mountain Ranching Community

10.21203/rs.3.rs-828586/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nicole Buckley Biggs

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Real Estate ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Sierra Nevada ◽

Well Being ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Services Research ◽

Study Region

Abstract Context. Land use change drives a host of sustainability challenges on Earth’s grasslands. To understand the relationship between changing land use patterns, human well-being, and ecosystem services, research is needed into land use transitions on privately-owned grasslands. Such inquiry lies at the intersection of land system science and landscape sustainability science. Objectives. This study investigated land use change in a mountain cattle ranching community in the Sierra Nevada, California. The research objective was to highlight the drivers and constraints of identified land use transitions and the types of landowners and policies influencing ecological outcomes. Methods. This research used a mixed methods case study based on participant observation, 30 semi-structured interviews, and analysis of land cover and real estate data from California’s Farmland Monitoring and Mapping Program, USDA CropScape, and a local real estate sales database. Interviews were conducted with ranchers, public agencies, and conservation and real estate industry representatives, and analyzed with the constant comparison method using Nvivo 12. Results. Land use transitions in the case study region include agricultural intensification, residential and solar development, and disintensification from amenity migration. These transitions were influenced by decreasing land access and water availability, remote work, intergenerational succession, and conservation policy. Conclusions. By highlighting influences on working lands, this study can be applied to improve the uptake of conservation policies. For the future, several factors appear critical to conserving ecosystem services on private grasslands: ensuring grazing lands access, income diversification, groundwater regulations, agriculture-compatible conservation easements, and land use policies supporting ownership transition to amenity purposes rather than low-density residential development.

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