Research paperLandscape pattern and ecosystem service value changes: Implications for environmental sustainability planning for the rapidly urbanizing summer capital of the Philippines
Introduction
One of the most important environmental pressures which impact on natural landscapes and the ecosystem services they generate for and provide to people is land-use/land-cover change that occurs as a result of urbanization (Haase and Nuissl, 2010, MA, 2005). Only about 2% of the Earth's land surface is covered by built-up areas, yet the effect of urban systems on the natural capital and the ecosystem services that capital generates is felt far beyond those urban boundaries (MA, 2005). The three processes of urban change that are believed to be important drivers of ecosystem change are: (1) urbanization, or the growth of the urban population; (2) urban growth, or the growth of built-up areas; and (3) urban sprawl, or the spread of urban functions into the urban hinterland as well as a decrease in the urban-rural gradient in population density and land prices, among other factors (MA, 2005).
Owing to its diversity and complexity, a universally accepted and unequivocal definition of urban sprawl is lacking, rendering the concept an onerous topic for study and research (Bhatta et al., 2010, Wilson et al., 2003). There is, however, a general consensus on depicting urban sprawl as unplanned and uneven growth resulting from multiple factors and leading to the inefficient utilization of resources (Bhatta, 2010, Sudhira et al., 2004).
Urbanization is influenced by the spatial expansion of built-up areas, technological developments and demographic pressures. Its consequent landscape changes have been associated with pressing environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystem services, posing many challenges in landscape conservation planning and management (Jacobs, 2011, MA, 2003, MA, 2005, Wu, 2010). Appropriate interventions capable of averting the catastrophic consequences of urbanization are therefore needed. The monitoring of spatiotemporal changes in the landscape helps researchers to characterize the ecological consequences of urbanization (Shrestha et al., 2012, Solon, 2009, Su et al., 2012). Authors writing on this topic have discussed how such changes influence ecological processes and functions, thereby altering the availability, quality and security of ecosystem services’ provisioning and consumption (e.g., MA, 2003, MA, 2005, Matteucci and Morello, 2009, Petrosillo et al., 2009, Su et al., 2012, Zaccarelli et al., 2008). ‘Ecosystem services’ is a collective term that refers to the benefits (e.g., goods and services)—large and small, direct and indirect—that ecosystems generate for and provide to people (Costanza et al., 1997, MA, 2003, MA, 2005, Nelson et al., 2009).
A sustainable city ‘must achieve a balance among environmental protection, economic development, and social wellbeing’ (Wu, 2010, p. 2). Biophysical and economic values are often integrated in landscape conservation planning and management, but social and ethical values based on integrity, the stability and beauty of the biotic community, and love, respect and admiration for the land are rarely considered (Bryan et al., 2010, Jacobs, 2011, Leopold, 1949). Accurate assessments of the values of ecosystem services could help ecological planners (Bryan et al., 2010, van der Horst, 2011); for example, through the adoption of the concepts and principles of ‘adaptive management’, the key aspect of which is the implementation of monitoring to evaluate how environmental targets and ecosystem services respond to specific landscape pattern designs (Jones et al., 2012), and ‘strategic environmental assessment’, which provides an excellent platform for spatial planning (Geneletti, 2011). Few attempts have been made to jointly analyze changes in landscape and ecosystem service values (Su et al., 2012). There is therefore still a need for additional scientifically grounded yet practical strategies for integrating the concepts of landscape conservation and ecosystem services in the context of landscape and urban development planning.
There are few baseline studies in an Asian context that have evaluated the impact of land-use/land-cover changes on ecosystem services with the goal of providing useful insights into landscape and urban planning (e.g., Su et al., 2012, Tianhong et al., 2010, Yoshida et al., 2010). This study therefore analyzes the dynamics of the socio-ecological system of Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines, in order to derive meaningful information that can be used to inform the planning process for its future sustainable development. Specifically, it aims to: (1) examine the changes in the landscape and urbanization of the city during the period 1988–2009; (2) identify the factors that encouraged the urbanization of the city; (3) draw a connection between the observed landscape dynamics and the evaluation of the global value of ecosystem services; and (4) discuss some implications for future landscape conservation and urban development planning. Baguio's population and urbanization have both grown rapidly, especially since the late 1980s. We hypothesize that the dramatic changes in land-use/land-cover have affected the overall provisioning and availability of ecosystem services in the city.
Section snippets
Study area
Baguio is one of the hill stations of Asia, unique in that it is the only one established by the United States in the region (Crossette, 1999, Estoque and Murayama, 2013, Reed, 1999). A hill station is a settlement located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. Most hill stations are sited at an altitude between 1000 and 2500 m above sea level (asl), and thus enjoy relatively more moderate temperatures than those recorded in the surrounding lowlands. The term ‘hill station’ is
Accuracy of the land-use/land-cover maps
The overall classification accuracy, as measured by ‘proportion correct’, was 86.86% for the 1988 land-use/land-cover map, 87.18% for the 1998 map and 89.10% for the 2009 map (Fig. 2a–c, Table 4). There were misclassified pixels; some built-up pixels, for example, were misclassified as cropland and vice versa. Some forest pixels were similarly misclassified as brushland and vice versa, and some brushland pixels were misclassified as cropland and vice versa. Mixed pixels, which are inherent in
Discussions
As with other notable hill stations in Asia, most notably Bogor, Simla, Da lat and Murree (Crossette, 1999, Estoque and Murayama, 2013), urbanization driven by a set of interrelated socio-economic and biophysical factors has also been the major factor that has changed and is still changing the landscape of Baguio. The annual ESV of Baguio has decreased substantially and, if the trend continues, it may continue to affect the tourism industry that the city depends on, and may eventually affect
Conclusions
Baguio city is an important landmark in the Philippines, well-known for its favorably cool climate and attractive natural landscape. This study has attempted to analyze the dynamics of its socio-ecological system in order to derive meaningful information that can be used to plan its future. Such dynamics define a set of constraints that challenge planners and policy-makers and establish the framework within which we define the inhabitants’ quality of life.
This study has determined not only the
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Wei-Ning Xiang, the handling editor and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.
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