Impacts of urbanization around Mediterranean cities: Changes in ecosystem service supply

Abstract

Urbanization is an important driver of changes in land cover in the Mediterranean Basin and it is likely to impact the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES). The most significant land cover changes occur in the periurban zone, but little is known about how these changes affect the ES supply. For eight European and four North African cities, we have quantified changes in peri-urban land cover, for periods of sixteen years (1990-2006) in the Northern African, and twenty-two years (1990-2012) in the European cities, respectively. Using an expertbased method, we derived quantitative estimates of the dynamics in the supply of twenty-seven ES. The nature of land cover changes slightly differed between European and North African Mediterranean cities, but overall it increased in urban areas and decreased in agricultural land. The capacity of the peri-urban areas of Mediterranean cities to supply ES generally reduced over the last 20-30 years. For nine ES the potential supply actually increased for all four North African cities and three out of the eight European cities. Across all cities, the ES timber, wood fuel and religious and spiritual experience increased. Given the expected increase of urban population in the Mediterranean Basin and the current knowledge of ES deficits in urban areas, the overall decrease in ES supply capacity of peri-urban areas is a risk for human wellbeing in the Mediterranean and poses a serious challenge for the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mediterranean basin.

Improving ecosystem assessments in Mediterranean social-ecological systems: a DPSIR analysis

“…Cities play an important role in economic growth and development, but have increasingly promoted ruralurban migration and are a source of impacts on biodiversity (Masad 2016; Mediterranean Wetland Observatory 2018), and on coastal and insular ecosystems because of a strong tourist influx to these environments (Tzanopoulos and Vogiatzakis 2011;Aretano et al 2013). With 33% of the Mediterranean Basin population residing in coastal areas, coastal ecosystems are highly threatened by the overexploitation of natural resources and the conversion of natural ecosystems into urban areas with a direct impact on ecosystem service supply (CEPF 2017; Balzan et al 2018;García-Nieto et al 2018), further pressure is added as these areas are becoming hotspots for ecosystem services demand (Baró et al 2017). On the marine and coastal realm, the unplanned and exacerbated transformation and use of the coast has impacts at various ecosystem levels, from meiofauna to vertebrates, including marine mammals, due to stressors such as pollution, exploitation and biological invasion among others (Defeo et al 2009).…”

“…A recent assessment of periurban land around 12 Mediterranean cities (eight European and four North-African), shows that the capacity of these important areas in terms of ecosystem services supply has generally reduced over the last 20-30 years due to urbanisation dynamics (García-Nieto et al 2018). However, it also shows some increases in the supply of certain forest-related ecosystem services, such as air quality regulation, timber, and fuelwood provision.…”

“…Recent changes within the Mediterranean Basin such as the abandonment of agrosilvopastoral practices, the intensification of primary sector activities (e.g. the use of more intensive agricultural, fishing practices and increased demand for energy wood), as well as an increase in urban development, have been suggested to lead to the loss of biodiversity and lower ecosystem services supply (Liquete et al 2016;García-Nieto et al 2018).…”

Elevated Risk of Ecological Land and Underlying Factors Associated with Rapid Urbanization and Overprotected Agriculture in Northeast China

“…Multiple impacts of anthropogenic activities and natural succession have triggered drastic land use and global environmental changes over the centuries, which inevitably gave rise to various conflicts between economic growth and sustainable development [1][2][3][4]. Ecological security has become an environmental issue in both developed and developing countries throughout the world [5,6].…”

Investigating the Spatiotemporally Varying Correlation between Urban Spatial Patterns and Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Nansihu Lake Basin, China

“…Under such circumstances, effectively evaluating the impact of land use changes on ecosystem services has become a matter of global concern, and it is urgently required to provide support for policy making that could mitigate its negative effects on the ecology and promote regional sustainable development [7]. Since the implementation of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) project in 2001, an increasing number of studies have been conducted that demonstrate that urbanization induced land use change is becoming a significant contributor of variation in ecosystem services [6,8]. Variations in land use structures directly influence ecosystem service dynamics, while variations in land use patterns indirectly influence them through changing ecological processes [9].…”