Estimation of Land Use Based Ecosystem Service Values and Its Response to Climate Change in Nepal

Jaya Ram Karki^1, , Prabhat Kumar¹ and Binod Baniya^2,

¹School of Life Sciences, Singhania University, Pacheri Bari, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, India

²Department of Environmental Science, Patan Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Cite this paper:
Jaya Ram Karki, Prabhat Kumar and Binod Baniya. Estimation of Land Use Based Ecosystem Service Values and Its Response to Climate Change in Nepal. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2022; 10(12):730-737. doi: 10.12691/aees-10-12-5

Abstract

Economic valuation of natural resources is very important to strengthen national economy and sustainable development. Identification and quantitative estimation of goods and services of available ecosystems i.e. provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services are very difficult. Therefore, we have used global ecosystem services values and service values used in Tibetan Plateau corresponding to the land use land cover standard of Nepal. The national ICIMOD 2010, ESRI 2020, FRTC 2000, 2019 LULC and CRU climatic data sets for temperature and precipitation were used. The ESV on different land categories at national, provincial scale and in different ecological zones of Nepal was computed using Simple Benefit Transfer approach (Costanza et al., 1997) with equivalent value coefficient of each ecosystem services and functions. The ESV of Nepal was found 17.34 × 10⁹ USD yr^-1 in 2010 and 16.67× 10⁹ USD yr^-1 in 2020. In ecological regions, Terai and Madhesh Province was observed lower ESV i.e. 2.62 × 10⁹ USD yr^-1 and 1.28×10⁹ USD yr^-1 respectively during 2019 in compared to other regions and provinces. During the same period, in Himal, ESV was also found lowest i.e. 1.13×10⁹ USD yr^-1. The ESV has increased in all provinces except in Karnali, Madhesh province and among all physiographic regions ESV has decreased in High Mountains and Himal in between 2000 and 2019. The climate study showed that temperature has increased by 0.02 ^oCyr^-1 and precipitation has decreased by -3.95 mmyr^-1 during 1990-2020 in Nepal. These changes of temperature, precipitation and land use dynamics have influenced on ecosystem changes and consequent ecosystem service values in national, provincial and ecological scales. As ESV is important lifeline for the people and their livelihood. Further, this study provides crucial information about ecosystem services to humans in cash values and its response to climate change in national scales in Nepal.

Keywords:
ecosystem service values climate change land use ecological zones Nepal

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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