IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoser/v38y2019ic15.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of land use and land cover change on ecosystem services in the Koshi River Basin, Eastern Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Rimal, Bhagawat
  • Sharma, Roshan
  • Kunwar, Ripu
  • Keshtkar, Hamidreza
  • Stork, Nigel E.
  • Rijal, Sushila
  • Rahman, Syed Ajijur
  • Baral, Himlal

Abstract

The provision of ecosystem services is directly related to the type of land use and land cover and management practices in a given area. Changes in land use and land cover can alter the supply of ecosystem services and affect the well-being of both humanity and nature. This study analyses the spatiotemporal variations of land use and land cover and quantifies the change in three important ecosystem services (food production, carbon storage, and habitat quality) in the Koshi River Basin, Nepal during 1996–2016 by using freely available data and tools such as, Landsat satellite images and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model. During the observed time period, there was an overall gain in urban areas (190 sq.km), forests (773 sq.km) and grassland (431 sq.km); loss of cultivated land (220 sq.km) and shrub lands (847 sq.km), mostly occurring in the lowlands (≤1000 m). As a result of the land cover changes, while food production and carbon storage showed a declining trend, overall habitat quality in the basin increased. There is a need to design novel and effective landscape approaches that address local realities and that will aid the maintenance of ecosystem services. We recommend landscape level planning to improve urban and agricultural sectors and focus on halting the loss of ecosystem services.

Suggested Citation

  • Rimal, Bhagawat & Sharma, Roshan & Kunwar, Ripu & Keshtkar, Hamidreza & Stork, Nigel E. & Rijal, Sushila & Rahman, Syed Ajijur & Baral, Himlal, 2019. "Effects of land use and land cover change on ecosystem services in the Koshi River Basin, Eastern Nepal," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:38:y:2019:i:c:15
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100963
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221204161930138X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100963?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paudyal, Kiran & Baral, Himlal & Bhandari, Santosh P. & Bhandari, Anil & Keenan, Rodney J., 2019. "Spatial assessment of the impact of land use and land cover change on supply of ecosystem services in Phewa watershed, Nepal," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Stephen Polasky & Erik Nelson & Derric Pennington & Kris Johnson, 2011. "The Impact of Land-Use Change on Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Returns to Landowners: A Case Study in the State of Minnesota," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 219-242, February.
    3. Iman Rousta & Md Omar Sarif & Rajan Dev Gupta & Haraldur Olafsson & Manjula Ranagalage & Yuji Murayama & Hao Zhang & Terence Darlington Mushore, 2018. "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Land Use/Land Cover and Its Effects on Surface Urban Heat Island Using Landsat Data: A Case Study of Metropolitan City Tehran (1988–2018)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, November.
    4. Kreuter, Urs P. & Harris, Heather G. & Matlock, Marty D. & Lacey, Ronald E., 2001. "Change in ecosystem service values in the San Antonio area, Texas," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 333-346, December.
    5. Basanta Paudel & Jungang Gao & Yili Zhang & Xue Wu & Shicheng Li & Jianzhong Yan, 2016. "Changes in Cropland Status and Their Driving Factors in the Koshi River Basin of the Central Himalayas, Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Bhoj Raj Pathak & Xie Yi & Radhika Bohara, 2017. "Community Based Forestry in Nepal: Status, Issues and Lessons Learned," International Journal of Sciences, Office ijSciences, vol. 6(03), pages 119-129, March.
    7. Sharma, Bikash & Rasul, Golam & Chettri, Nakul, 2015. "The economic value of wetland ecosystem services: Evidence from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 84-93.
    8. Bonnie L. Keeler & Perrine Hamel & Timon McPhearson & Maike H. Hamann & Marie L. Donahue & Kelly A. Meza Prado & Katie K. Arkema & Gregory N. Bratman & Kate A. Brauman & Jacques C. Finlay & Anne D. Gu, 2019. "Social-ecological and technological factors moderate the value of urban nature," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 29-38, January.
    9. Xiao-Peng Song & Matthew C. Hansen & Stephen V. Stehman & Peter V. Potapov & Alexandra Tyukavina & Eric F. Vermote & John R. Townshend, 2018. "Global land change from 1982 to 2016," Nature, Nature, vol. 560(7720), pages 639-643, August.
    10. Elisa Muzzini & Gabriela Aparicio, 2013. "Urban Growth and Spatial Transition in Nepal : An Initial Assessment," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13110, December.
    11. Alexander V. Balatsky & Galina I. Balatsky & Stanislav S. Borysov, 2015. "Resource Demand Growth and Sustainability Due to Increased World Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-11, March.
    12. Tolessa, Terefe & Senbeta, Feyera & Kidane, Moges, 2017. "The impact of land use/land cover change on ecosystem services in the central highlands of Ethiopia," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 47-54.
    13. Sushila Rijal & Bhagawat Rimal & Sean Sloan, 2018. "Flood Hazard Mapping of a Rapidly Urbanizing City in the Foothills (Birendranagar, Surkhet) of Nepal," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-13, May.
    14. Johan A. Oldekop & Katharine R. E. Sims & Birendra K. Karna & Mark J. Whittingham & Arun Agrawal, 2019. "Reductions in deforestation and poverty from decentralized forest management in Nepal," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(5), pages 421-428, May.
    15. Lyu, Rongfang & Zhang, Jianming & Xu, Mengqun & Li, Jijun, 2018. "Impacts of urbanization on ecosystem services and their temporal relations: A case study in Northern Ningxia, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 163-173.
    16. Logsdon, Rebecca A. & Chaubey, Indrajeet, 2013. "A quantitative approach to evaluating ecosystem services," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 257(C), pages 57-65.
    17. Raju Rai & Yili Zhang & Basanta Paudel & Bipin Kumar Acharya & Laxmi Basnet, 2018. "Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Assessing the Ecosystem Service Values in the Trans-Boundary Gandaki River Basin, Central Himalayas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, August.
    18. Bhagawat Rimal & Lifu Zhang & Nigel Stork & Sean Sloan & Sushila Rijal, 2018. "Urban Expansion Occurred at the Expense of Agricultural Lands in the Tarai Region of Nepal from 1989 to 2016," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Srijana Shrestha & Khem Narayan Poudyal & Nawraj Bhattarai & Mohan B. Dangi & John J. Boland, 2022. "An Assessment of the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Degradation of Ecosystem Service Values in Kathmandu Valley Using Remote Sensing and GIS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    2. Mohan Kumar Rai & Basanta Paudel & Yili Zhang & Pashupati Nepal & Narendra Raj Khanal & Linshan Liu & Raju Rai, 2023. "Appraisal of Empirical Studies on Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes and Their Impact on Ecosystem Services in Nepal Himalaya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Yuan Gong & Mengmeng Cai & Lei Yao & Linsong Cheng & Chunxu Hao & Zheng Zhao, 2022. "Assessing Changes in the Ecosystem Services Value in Response to Land-Use/Land-Cover Dynamics in Shanghai from 2000 to 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Muluberhan Biedemariam & Emiru Birhane & Biadgilgn Demissie & Tewodros Tadesse & Girmay Gebresamuel & Solomon Habtu, 2022. "Ecosystem Service Values as Related to Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Ethiopia: A Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-21, December.
    5. Valencia Torres, Angélica & Tiwari, Chetan & Atkinson, Samuel F., 2021. "Progress in ecosystem services research: A guide for scholars and practitioners," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    6. Yuqing Xiong & Hong Li & Meichen Fu & Xiuhua Ma & Lei Wang, 2022. "Evaluation of Ecosystem Service Change Patterns in a Mining-Based City: A Case Study of Wu’an City," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, June.
    7. Bhaskar Shrestha & Qinghua Ye & Nitesh Khadka, 2019. "Assessment of Ecosystem Services Value Based on Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Transboundary Karnali River Basin, Central Himalayas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Yanru Wang & Xiaojuan Zhang & Peihao Peng, 2021. "Spatio-Temporal Changes of Land-Use/Land Cover Change and the Effects on Ecosystem Service Values in Derong County, China, from 1992–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    9. Xiaojuan Lin & Min Xu & Chunxiang Cao & Ramesh P. Singh & Wei Chen & Hongrun Ju, 2018. "Land-Use/Land-Cover Changes and Their Influence on the Ecosystem in Chengdu City, China during the Period of 1992–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    10. Raju Rai & Yili Zhang & Basanta Paudel & Narendra Raj Khanal, 2019. "Status of Farmland Abandonment and Its Determinants in the Transboundary Gandaki River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Raju Rai & Yili Zhang & Basanta Paudel & Bipin Kumar Acharya & Laxmi Basnet, 2018. "Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Assessing the Ecosystem Service Values in the Trans-Boundary Gandaki River Basin, Central Himalayas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, August.
    12. Maggie G. Munthali & Mengistie Kindu & Abiodun M. Adeola & Nerhene Davis & Joel O. Botai & Negasi Solomon, 2023. "Variations of ecosystem service values as a response to land use and land cover dynamics in central malawi," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9821-9837, September.
    13. Pham, Kien T. & Lin, Tang-Huang, 2023. "Effects of urbanisation on ecosystem service values: A case study of Nha Trang, Vietnam," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Roshan Sharma & Bhagawat Rimal & Himlal Baral & Udo Nehren & Kiran Paudyal & Sunil Sharma & Sushila Rijal & Surendra Ranpal & Ram Prasad Acharya & Amer A. Alenazy & Prashid Kandel, 2019. "Impact of Land Cover Change on Ecosystem Services in a Tropical Forested Landscape," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, January.
    15. Duy X. Tran & Diane Pearson & Alan Palmer & David Gray, 2020. "Developing a Landscape Design Approach for the Sustainable Land Management of Hill Country Farms in New Zealand," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-29, June.
    16. Shaofeng Yuan & Congmou Zhu & Lixia Yang & Fenghua Xie, 2019. "Responses of Ecosystem Services to Urbanization-Induced Land Use Changes in Ecologically Sensitive Suburban Areas in Hangzhou, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, March.
    17. Damien Sinonmatohou Tiando & Shougeng Hu & Xin Fan & Muhammad Rashid Ali, 2021. "Tropical Coastal Land-Use and Land Cover Changes Impact on Ecosystem Service Value during Rapid Urbanization of Benin, West Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-16, July.
    18. Jun Hou & Tianlin Qin & Shanshan Liu & Jianwei Wang & Biqiong Dong & Sheng Yan & Hanjiang Nie, 2021. "Analysis and Prediction of Ecosystem Service Values Based on Land Use/Cover Change in the Yiluo River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, June.
    19. Md. Omar Sarif & Rajan Dev Gupta, 2022. "Spatiotemporal mapping of Land Use/Land Cover dynamics using Remote Sensing and GIS approach: a case study of Prayagraj City, India (1988–2018)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 888-920, January.
    20. Zhang, Da & Huang, Qingxu & He, Chunyang & Wu, Jianguo, 2017. "Impacts of urban expansion on ecosystem services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, China: A scenario analysis based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 115-130.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:38:y:2019:i:c:15. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecosystem-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.