Enhancing Water Ecosystem Services Using Environmental Zoning in Land Use Planning

Phelipe da Silva Anjinho (), Mariana Abibi Guimarães Araujo Barbosa, Angeliki Peponi, Gonçalo Duarte, Paulo Branco, Maria Teresa Ferreira and Frederico Fábio Mauad
Additional contact information
Phelipe da Silva Anjinho: Center of Water Resources and Environmental Studies, School of Engineering of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Mariana Abibi Guimarães Araujo Barbosa: Center of Water Resources and Environmental Studies, School of Engineering of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Angeliki Peponi: Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, 1349-17 Lisbon, Portugal
Gonçalo Duarte: Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, 1349-17 Lisbon, Portugal
Paulo Branco: Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, 1349-17 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria Teresa Ferreira: Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, 1349-17 Lisbon, Portugal
Frederico Fábio Mauad: Center of Water Resources and Environmental Studies, School of Engineering of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: Land use and land cover (LULC) changes alter the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems, impacting the potential and flow of ecosystem services. Ecological restoration projects aiming to enhance native vegetation have proven effective in mitigating the impacts of LULC changes on ecosystem services. A key element in implementing these projects has been identifying priority areas for restoration, considering that resources allocated to such projects are often limited. This study proposes a novel methodological framework to identify priority areas for restoration and guide LULC planning to increase the provision of water ecosystem services (WESs) in a watershed in southeastern Brazil. To do so, we combined biophysical models and multicriteria analysis to identify priority areas for ecological restoration, propose environmental zoning for the study area, and quantify the effects of LULC changes and of a planned LULC scenario (implemented environmental zoning) on WES indicators. Previous LULC changes, from 1985 to 2019, have resulted in a nearly 20% increase in annual surface runoff, a 50% increase in sediment export, a 22% increase in total nitrogen (TN) export, and a 53% increase in total phosphorus (TP) export. Simultaneously, they reduced the provision of WESs (baseflow −27%, TN retention −10%, and TP retention −16%), except for sediment retention, which increased by 35% during the analyzed period. The planned LULC scenario successfully increased the provision of WESs while reducing surface runoff and nutrient and sediment exports. The methodology employed in this study proved to be effective in guiding LULC planning for improving WES. The obtained results provide a scientific foundation for guiding the implementation of WES conservation policies in the studied watershed. This method is perceived to be applicable to other watersheds.

Keywords: water management; ecological restoration; land use and land cover; modelling; InVEST model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4803/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4803/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4803-:d:1408972

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().