Comparative Assessments of Ecosystem Services between Rural and Urban Areas

Abstract

From the last century, landuse was drastically changed in both urban and rural areas. Design and planning are needed for sustainable development in not only rural area but also urban area kept being harmony with ecosystems and biodiversity. Ecosystem provides various goods and services for the human society. We carried out quantitative assessments of ecosystem services in both urban and rural areas in Japan. In a rural area, material circulations (water, carbon and wood) were estimated by a process-based ecosystem model. In an urban area, ecosystem services were estimated calculated by maps of land use classified from digital maps. From the results, both rural and urban ecosystems study areas were deeply affected by land use, provisioning service changes directly related to societal demands. Urban ecosystems might provide complementary functions for urban area residents in the condition of decreased value of provisioning service. Types of rural ecosystem services also may change for social and economic reasons. The information may be useful for environmental planning for each area but also for more large regions including urban and rural areas.