Progress and Prospects of Forest Ecological Asset Research

In recent years, in the face of the deterioration of the ecological environment, the research on forest ecological assets (FEA) has increasingly become a focal area of ecological research. To understand the current research progress and future prospects, this paper classifies and summarizes the main progress and achievements related to FEA in terms of theoretical studies, index systems, technical methods, and accounting models. In view of the existing research results, this paper proposes seven key scientific and technical problems and prospects to be solved, including the unification of the concept of ecological assets, the focus of future research on FEA, the construction of an evaluation index system according to local conditions, the integration of data assimilation methods that complement ground and remote sensing observations, the study of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of forest ecological assets, the study of the net value of FEA, and the preservation and appreciation of FEA.

The Value of Ecological Assets Based on Land Cover/Use Pattern in Kunming, Yunnan Province

Nowadays, the quantitative assessment of the ecological assets assessment was a hot topic and focus in the field of ecology and environmental economics. Quantitative evaluation of ecological assets can monetize the value of ecological assets, strengthen local ecological environment protection, and promote the service functions of regional ecosystems. Taking urban area as research area can clarify the value of local ecological protection and provide a scientific basis for the positioning of the functions and the construction of ecological civilization. The results showed that the value of ecological assets in Kunming was 249.858 billion yuan and 305.180 billion yuan in 2010 and 2020, respectively. Grassland made the largest contribution to ecological assets and was an important part of the composition of ecological assets, and the value of soil and water conservation occupied a large proportion in Kunming's ecological assets. The value of ecological assets in Kunming was growing in general, but a few ecological services have declined in value, so it was necessary to increase the ecological construction and strengthen the supervision and management of ecological assets.

The Role of Marine-Protected Areas as A Life Support for Fishery Communities: Indonesian Perspective

This chapter examines relevant literature on marine-protected areas (MPAs) development and their benefit to support fishery communities in Indonesia. The MPAs concepts experienced since Indonesia’s kingdoms eras, continuing the Dutch Colonial period, the next post-independence, and the period from 2000 to the present. One of the functions of MPAs is as a source of livelihood for fishery communities. The size of MPAs in the year 2000 was around 2.6 million hectares (ha) and significantly increased in 2021 up to 23.3 million ha. The size of MPAs is growing along with forming the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The Indonesian government targets MPAs of 32.5 million ha or 10% of the territorial sea of the archipelago. The involvement of stakeholders in the utilization and management of MPAs ensures the area’s sustainability and environmental safety. It improves the welfare of fishermen through the availability of fish resources. Therefore, in the purpose of protecting ecological assets, even though the literature sources were limited, our finding suggests that many MPAs involving local communities and traditional management can become the foundation of the fishery community’s livelihood.

Spatio-temporal land cover dynamics and emerging landscape patterns in western part of Lagos State, Nigeria

Lagos State, which is home to Lagos metropolis and the eighteenth largest urban agglomeration in 2018 in the world, has been characterized by rapid urbanization. An earlier study of the eastern segment of the state revealed dramatic urban growth in previously rural local councils where it replaced mostly ecological assets. For a statewide view of the landscape pattern changes, this study examined the western segment of the state to characterize the magnitude and trend of these changes. This was done with Landsat images for 1984, 2006 and 2015 along with ENVI 5.0 software and FRAGSTATS v.4.2 spatial pattern analysis program. Results show that cumulatively, the ecological assets, which comprised 75% of the area in 1984, have been whittled down to about 34% by 2015 having been lost through urban development. At the council level in 2015, the highest growth areas, in decreasing order of magnitude, were Alimosho, Badagry, Ojo and Amuwo Odofin local government areas. Both class and landscape-level metrics confirmed the dominance and fragmentation of the resultant landscape in 2015 by urban development. In 1984, vegetation dominated the landscape at 55% coverage and was the largest feature with the highest area-weighted contiguity or connectedness index. Thirty-one years later in 2015, built-up areas were the dominant patch with 54% coverage and the highest contiguity and area-weighted contiguity index, higher than vegetation. These findings have narrowed the information gap about the spatial and temporal changes in the ecological assets of the western segment of Lagos State as a result of rapid urban expansion.

Impacts of Infrastructure Developments on Ecosystem Services Potential in Istanbul

Istanbul has been subject to drastic spatial changes in the last decade due to major investments in the northern section of the city. The primary purpose of the research was to interpret the ecological outcomes of spatial use changes due to such urban development activities and enhance the environmental impact assessment process by adopting an analytical and holistic approach. The approach used in the analysis is based on a model called “matrix model” developed specifically to estimate ecosystem services (ES) capacity of a given area depending on the spatial use types. With the use of this method, one can estimate how spatial use influences ES capacity in positive or negative ways, which ES type is affected most, and which part of the spatial change causes most impact on ecological assets. The methodology is applied for three different investment projects in Istanbul, respectively: North Marmara Motorway (NMM), Istanbul Airport, and Canal Istanbul. While the first two have been mostly completed, the third is in the planning phase. Corine Land Cover datasets for 2012 and 2018 are used as basis datasets within the methodology, and spatial plans of Canal Istanbul are used for future projections. Based on these datasets, ES capacity analysis is carried out for each year for the area of investment, and estimation results are compared. The analysis results indicate that these investments have caused and will cause severe ES losses as expected. The outputs prove that the “matrix model” can be used to evaluate ecological impacts in a straightforward, efficient, and inclusive way for evaluating spatial changes. The authors suggest that environmental impact assessments for such major investments must represent a comprehensive outlook based on more simplistic but yet informative approaches that highlight the potential losses of not only ecological assets but also their functions and benefits. In this context, it is strongly recommended that there is a paradigm shift in the understanding of the “environmental impact” in a direction where environment is not acted upon as a solid, rigid, and stable “land cover” but instead a living organism that produces benefits and services for the whole components of the ecosystem on earth, including humankind.