Implications of land cover change on ecosystems services and people’s dependency: A case study from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal

Chaudhary, Sunita; Chettri, Nakul; Uddin, Kabir; Khatri, Top B.; Dhakal, Maheshwar; Bajracharya, Birendra; Wu, Ning

doi:10.1016/j.ecocom.2016.04.002

Cited by 46 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…High dependency of some local communities on wetland ecosystem services has been reported elsewhere, for example in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve of Eastern Nepal [52,53] and Kratie province of Cambodia [54]. While all ecosystem services are important for rural livelihoods, fishing, tourism, particularly those based on bird watching, and fuel wood are major ecosystem services on which the wetland community depends.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India

Bhatta

Chaudhary

Pandit

et al. 2016

Land

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Abstract:Wetlands provide a diverse range of ecosystem services supporting livelihoods of many people. Despite their value, wetlands are continuously being degraded. There is scant information on individual wetlands, people's dependency and their exploitation at a local scale. We therefore assessed wetland ecosystem services, the drivers of change and impacts of those drivers on ecosystem services and people's dependency through a case study of the Maguri-Motapung Beel wetlands of Assam, India. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and community workshops. The analyses showed a total of 29 ecosystem services, and high dependency on these with five out of seven livelihood strategies sourced from ecosystem services. Over-exploitation of wetland resources and siltation were reported as the major direct drivers of change with impacts on both ecosystem services and people's livelihoods. Drastic decreases in availability of thatch, fish stocks, fodder and tourism were observed. This suggests that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive participatory management plan. Actions are needed to maintain the Maguri-Motapung Beel wetlands and the flow of services in order to sustain people's livelihoods in the area. With an estimated 50% global loss of wetlands in the last century and the loss of 5,000 square kilometers a year in Asia alone, the loss of ecosystem services and livelihood impacts shown in our study may be typical of what is occurring in the region and perhaps globally.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India

Bhatta

Chaudhary

Pandit

et al. 2016

Land

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“…A home to 40% of the world's species and 12% of all animal species (Mitsch and Gosselink 2000), wetlands cover around 6% of the world's land area (Zedler and Kercher 2005) of which the largest area (31.8%) is in Asia (Davidson et al 2018). The wetland provides a wide array of provisioning, supporting, cultural and regulating services contributing to human wellbeing (Lamsal et al 2015;Sharma et al 2015;Chaudhary et al 2016Chaudhary et al , 2017. Converting such benefits in economic terms, 12.8 million km 2 of the existing global wetland could yield 70 billion United States Dollar (USD, Schuijt and Brander 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of land use land cover change on ecosystem services: a comparative analysis on observed data and people’s perception in Inle Lake, Myanmar

et al. 2018

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Background: A healthy wetland provides a range of goods and services contributing to human wellbeing. Inle Lake, the first Biosphere Reserve in Myanmar, has been supporting the local inhabitants with ecosystem services (ES) including habitat for a wide range of biodiversity. In the recent years, influenced by land use land cover change (LULCC), the lake has witnessed changes with altered flow of ES, affecting human well-being. Communities' perceptions are often undermined, when it comes to research LULCC. We analyzed LULCC change data from 1989-2000 to 2000-2014 using Landsat imageries. This was then linked to ES considering dependency through qualitative data collated from participatory rural appraisal tools and structured questionnaires focusing on people's perception to understand the LULCC dynamics and its implication. Results: During 25 years (1989-2014), there has been a sharp reduction of 164 km 2 perennial wetland area in the Inle Lake, which is 4.2-fold higher in 2014 to that of 1989. Similarly, forest area has been declined by 92 km 2 (8.56%) in last 25 years. Contrary to this, cropland area showed an increment of 60.67% in 2000 and 64.53% in the year 2014 alone giving a total increase by 268 km 2 over the last 25 years and an expansion of 40 km 2 seasonal freshwater area were observed showing periodic increment over the time. Communities from the three study areas, namely, Kyaung Taung, Zay Gon and Kyar Taw are found to have high dependence in their surrounding ecosystems. These villages utilizes 17 ES from forest ecosystem, 13 from agro-ecosystem, 10 from seasonal and 4 from perennial water body for their livelihood respectively. Around 93% of the respondents opined that forest ecosystem has decreased over the last 10 years. Around 40% of the respondents reflected an increase in area used for cropland; 43% conversely perceived a declination. About 63% of the respondents perceived such changes have brought huge reduction in availability of freshwater ES. A significant number of respondents (92%) perceived an enormous reduction in seasonal water body during the dry season. Conclusion: Observed decreasing trends in forest and perennial wetland areas were consistent with people's perceived changes. Communities associate loss of forest and wetland area with reduced availability of ES as well as degraded health of the lake.

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“…Socially, culturally, and ecologically important ecosystems were also identified and their perceived values ranked in a similar manner. Socio-economically important ecosystems and services were defined as those that are important for subsistence livelihoods and economy; culturally important were defined as those that are important in tradition and culture such as sacred plants, animals, wetlands, and sacred groves; and ecologically important were defined as those that are important for ecological balance and resilience based on various research work in the region and elsewhere (Castro et al 2014, Chaudhary et al 2016, 2017.…”

Section: Household Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It yields better classification results with a higher degree of accuracy than pixel-based methods, as it uses both spectral and spatial information (Lang et al 2011). A hierarchical classification scheme was used with six major land classes; the detailed methodology is described in Chaudhary et al (2016). Briefly, eCognition Developer software was used to divide the image into objects that were similar in terms of selected attributes using indices like the land and water mask (LWM) was then created, during class modeling, through band ratio and texture information based on spectral values and vegetation indices like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).…”

Section: Geospatial Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding social–ecological interdependence using ecosystem services perspective in Bhutan, Eastern Himalayas

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Biophysical and economic values are often used to aid understanding of the complex interplay between ecosystems, their services, and human well-being, but community values are rarely considered. In a case study of Barshong gewog in Bhutan, we used mapping methods that involved (1) local knowledge and perceptions collected using participatory rural appraisal tools, (2) a household survey, and (3) geospatial inputs, to understand the linkages between human well-being and ecosystem services at the local level, as perceived by the community. The study identified three major ecosystems-forest, agriculture, and freshwater-that contribute highly to local livelihoods. Collectively, these ecosystems provide a wide range of goods and services, including 22 provisioning, 13 regulating, 4 supporting, and 6 cultural services. About 85% of the households depend directly upon provisioning ecosystem services for their livelihoods and income. The study also identified the importance of the ecosystems in terms of three value domainsecological, socioeconomic, and cultural.

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Implications of land cover change on ecosystems services and people’s dependency: A case study from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal

Cited by 46 publications

References 34 publications

Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India

Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India

Impact of land use land cover change on ecosystem services: a comparative analysis on observed data and people’s perception in Inle Lake, Myanmar

Understanding social–ecological interdependence using ecosystem services perspective in Bhutan, Eastern Himalayas

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