Impact of land use change on ecosystem services of southwest coastal Bangladesh

This study assessed impact of land use change on ecosystem services (ES) of the southwest coastal Bangladesh, by combining Landsat data and published value coefficients of different ecosystems. Land use categories were estimated using satellite images from 1980 – 2016. Changes in the value of ES delivered by each of the land use categories were estimated from respective value coefficients. Results revealed that agriculture land decreased by 253,928 ha and aquaculture land increased by 272,032 ha within 1980 – 2016. Meanwhile, the total value of ES decreased from US$ 90.45 to 88.22 billion. Decline of agriculture was the largest contributor (US$ 1.41 billion) to the loss of ES, followed by deforestation (US$ 0.94 billion). Forest is the major contributor to…