Staff Research Highlight - Terrestrial protected areas: Understanding the spatial variation of potential and realized ecosystem services
Earlier this year environmental economist Dr. Tariq Aziz joined the Aquanty team, expanding on our teams already diverse set of subject matter expertise. Dr. Aziz’s expertise on the valuation of ecosystem goods and services brings another dimension to the integrated hydrologic analyses that we perform at Aquanty, making it possible to recognize the dollar-value that our surface and groundwater resources provide to the public.
Click here to learn about valuation of ecosystem goods and services: Rising importance of economic valuation of ecosystem services in protecting Canada's vital resources.
Dr. Aziz’s latest study expands the spatial scale of ecosystem goods and service analysis by mapping the supply and use of water, carbon, and recreational services provided by 140 protected areas (e.g., national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, etc.) at a national level (i.e. across all of Pakistan, ~800,000 sqkm). The work investigates the impact of size of a protected area and its distance from the nearest urban center on the supply and use of its ecosystem services. The approach employs two open-source mainstream ecosystem services models (InVEST and Co$ting Nature) and GIS tools to delineate ecosystem services indices and other spatial covariates. Findings are that small protected areas provide ecosystem services at a higher intensity than large ones, and that the farther away a protected area is from an urban center, the less the protected area provides both potential and realized ecosystem services. The methodology is easily replicable in other countries and regions to explore the connections between ecosystem services and other influencing factors. Overall, this work broadly contributes towards understanding the spatial variation of ecosystem services in two ways:
Fosters a better understanding of spatial variation in ecosystem services,
Creates a backdrop for future investigations into the relationships of ecosystem services with other latent variables. (edited)
Click here to read the paper.
Abstract:
Terrestrial protected areas (TPAs) have become a keystone in nature conservation and environmental policy-making because they provide a potpourri of ecosystem services—benefits that are foundational for human existence and well-being. The intensity of ecosystem services production (i.e., potential) and use (i.e., realized) from a TPA depends on several variables such as ecosystem type, TPA size, population in the region, and development infrastructure. However, little is known about how ecosystem services intensity varies in relation to these variables. The TPAs provide a rich setting to investigate these relationships in support of better management for both TPAs and ecosystem services. Here, using the Co$ting Nature model, I map the potential and realized ecosystem services intensity from 140 of Pakistan's TPAs. To ascertain the direct impacts on realized ecosystem services, I use ArcGIS and InVEST tools to infer three spatial variables: TPA size (area), TPA distance from the nearest urban center, and visitation rates to the TPA. Results from the statistical analyses show that potential and realized ecosystem services are positively and significantly correlated, meaning increased supply results in more use. Yet, both are negatively correlated with TPA size and distance from the urban centers. Finally, a multivariate regression analysis is conducted considering potential ecosystem services and the selected three spatial variables as predictors for realized ecosystem services. The analysis indicates that potential ecosystem services and the size of a TPA are both significant for realized ecosystem services, with the potential services positively and TPA size negatively correlated with realized ecosystem services. The data generated and the results obtained in the study can inform the protection, stewardship, and expansion of TPAs at national and global scales.