Landscape's capacity to supply ecosystem service: Mapping and assessment for Kulik forest (Raiganj bird sanctuary), India

Abstract

Exploring the tradeoff between the supply of ecosystem service (ES) has emerged as one of the important research topics. Mapping and assessment is essential to mitigate the mismatches between the supply of ES in contemporary research ES studies. Therefore, assessing the supply of ES based on the LULC approach is essential to formulate effective land use planning strategies to achieve sustainable ES management. This study aims to assess the supply capacities of ESs provided by a forest landscape (Asia's one of the largest bird sanctuaries) located in Raiganj Urban Agglomeration (RUA), Eastern India. This study used LULC based ES matrix model to assess the forest landscape capacities to supply 12 ES (10 provisioning ES and 2 cultural ES). ES supply index (ESSI) and ES demand index (ESDI) were also developed to quantify the role of ES to supply and demand and the discrepancy between supply and demand of ES. The results showed that forest cover areas, built-up areas and water bodies increased by 2.21% (with an annual growth rate of +0.76%), 236.48% (with annual growth of +12.42%) and 29.56% (with an annual growth rate of +1.35%) during 1990–2019, respectively. A relatively higher supply of ES was reported from cultural ES (1.30 with the highest score from the forest), followed by provisioning ES (0.49 with the highest score from the forest). As per the result of ESSI, the highest value was documented from forest cover (0.318), followed by water bodies (0.182) and agricultural land (0.136). On the other hand, in the case of ESDI, the highest ESDI was reported from settlement areas (0.545), followed by water bodies (0.45), forest cover area (0.364), and agricultural land (0.273). Thus, relatively higher discrepancies were observed from the settlement (−0.594), followed by water bodies (−0.272), agricultural land (−0.136), and forest cover (−0.045). The findings will undoubtedly provide insights to enhance forest sustainability in the study area and elsewhere.