Land use change, carbon stocks and tree species diversity in green spaces of a secondary city in Myanmar, Pyin Oo Lwin

Abstract

Myanmar undergoes rapid urban expansion and experiences its negative impacts, often due to the loss of urban green spaces. National and local authorities lack sufficient knowledge, capacity and plans on how to preserve urban green spaces and benefit from their ecosystem services, with such gaps being particularly pronounced in the smaller secondary cities. This study focuses in such as secondary city, Pyin Oo Lwin, and analyzes land use and land cover (LULC) change, tree diversity and carbon stored in aboveground and belowground biomass, and soil. We focus on the main green spaces of the city, which contain different configurations of urban forest, grassland and agricultural land. Remote sensing analysis tracked LULC change between 1988 and 2018, and showed the extensive increase of built-up area, and the decline of urban forests and urban farms. Even though a substantial amount of green spaces has been converted to built-up land, the remaining urban green spaces are still serving as an important habitat for many different tree species, with a total of 82 species from 35 families observed in the different green spaces. Furthermore, these green spaces contain significant carbon stocks, which are, however, highly variable: botanical garden (383.67 t/ha), coffee farms (355.64 t/ha), monasteries (277.14 t/ha), golf course (208.45 t/ha), and seasonal farms (123.22 t/ha). Nevertheless, the extensive LULC change has reduced carbon stocks from 2.41 Mt (1988) to 1.65 Mt (2018). The findings of this study provide a better understanding of LULC change in secondary cities of Myanmar, and build an evidence base on how urban green spaces preservation and green infrastructure development can contribute to green economic transitions, and sustainable, resilient, and low-carbon cities in the country.

The Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment 2020: Official Conference Proceedings

“…Trees are an important part of life (Nyelele, Kroll, and Nowak 2019). Trees can produce oxygen, cool air, provide shade in summer, prevent soil erosion and water pollution, and also tackle climate change (Helen, Jarzebski, and Gasparatos 2019). Trees in terrestrial ecosystems will provide health benefits for the environment (Berg et al 2015) and the animal species that live around it (Pretzsch et al 2015).…”

Pengembangan Tata Kelolah Ruang Terbuka Hijau: Sebuah Kajian Pustaka Terstuktur

“…Pada cluster 3 kata kunci yang dominan yaitu perubahan (change) terdapat artikel yang relevan yaitu artikel yan g ditulis oleh (Helen et al, 2019) yang berjudu l "Land use change, carbon stocks and species diversity in green spaces of a secondary city in Myanmar, Pyin Oo Lwin" yang menjelaskan Perubahan penggunaan lahan, stok karbon dan keanekaragaman spesies pohon di ruang hijau. Hasil penelitian (Helen et al, 2019) menunjukan bahwa peningkatan ekstensif dari area terbangun, dan penurunan hutan kota dan pertanian perkotaan.…”

“…Pada cluster 3 kata kunci yang dominan yaitu perubahan (change) terdapat artikel yang relevan yaitu artikel yan g ditulis oleh (Helen et al, 2019) yang berjudu l "Land use change, carbon stocks and species diversity in green spaces of a secondary city in Myanmar, Pyin Oo Lwin" yang menjelaskan Perubahan penggunaan lahan, stok karbon dan keanekaragaman spesies pohon di ruang hijau. Hasil penelitian (Helen et al, 2019) menunjukan bahwa peningkatan ekstensif dari area terbangun, dan penurunan hutan kota dan pertanian perkotaan. Meskipun sejumlah besar ruang hijau telah diubah menjadi lahan terbangun, ruang hijau perkotaan yang tersisa masih berfungsi sebagai habitat penting bagi banyak spesies pohon yang berbeda, dengan total 82 spesies dari 35 famili yang diamati di ruang hijau yang berbeda Pada cluster 4 kata kunci yang dominan yaitu daerah perkotaan (Urban Area) terdapat artikel yang relevan yaitu artikel yang ditulis oleh (Aalbers et al, 2019) yang berjudul "Fourteen local governance initiatives in greenspace in urban areas in the Netherlands.…”

Carbon sequestration of city agriculture: between farming and non-farming land

“…Several studies have shown that trees [30] and tall cover crops [31] on agricultural land or green spaces [28], [32] helps the carbon sequestration of other sectors [20]. Also, organic agriculture [33], [34].…”