Effects of Land Use Changes on the Ecosystem Service Values of Coastal Wetlands

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) 2014-10, Vol.54 (4), p.852-864
• Main Authors: Camacho-Valdez, Vera, Ruiz-Luna, Arturo, Ghermandi, Andrea, Berlanga-Robles, César A, Nunes, Paulo A. L. D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquaculture; Aquatic Pollution; Artificial wetlands; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biodiversity; Categories; Climate change; Coastal; Coastal zone management; Coasts; Conservation of Natural Resources - economics; Decision making; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; economic valuation; Ecosystem; Ecosystem services; Ecosystem studies; Ecosystems; Environment; Environmental economics; Environmental Management; Forestry Management; Geographic Information Systems; image analysis; issues and policy; Land cover; Land use; land use change; Landsat; Landscape; Landscapes; Marine; Mexico; Natural resources; Nature Conservation; Policies; Protected areas; Remote sensing; Remote Sensing Technology; Salt marshes; screening; shrimp; Tourism; Urban development; Valuation; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-014-0332-9

Changes in the coastal landscape of Southern Sinaloa (Mexico), between 2000 and 2010, were analyzed to relate spatial variations in wetlands extent with the provision and economic value of the ecosystem services (ES). Remote sensing techniques applied to Landsat TM imagery were used to evaluate land use/land cover changes while the value transfer method was used to assess the value of ES by land cover category. Five wetland types and other four land covers were found as representative of the coastal landscape. Findings reveal a 14 % decrease in the saltmarsh/forested mangrove area and a 12 % increase in the area of shrimp pond aquaculture (artificial wetland) during the study period. ES valuation shows that the total value flow increased by 9 % from $215 to $233 million (2007 USD) during the 10-year period. This increase is explained as result of the high value worldwide assigned to saltmarsh. We recognize limitations in the transfer-based approach in quantifying and mapping ES values in the region, but this method provides with value estimates spatially defined, and also provides some guidance in the preliminary screening of policies and projected development in the context of data-scarce regions.