Analysis of Urban Ecosystem Services Considering Conservation Priority

Abstract

Many cities lose their green space and ecosystem services, especially in developing countries, which represent a problem as serious as an environmental pollution. Japan has also experienced the problem as a result of rapid economic growth. A system to assess ecosystem services and to create conservation maps in urban area was developed for use as a policy suggestion for urban planning. Nine ecosystem services were calculated by proxy variables in the studied area, Nagoya city, Japan. After selecting a subset of relatively and highly independent proxy variables, five ecosystem services significantly decreased before and after a period of strong economic growth (1955 and 1997). Distributions of the ecosystem services had trends of fragmentation indicated by a cluster analysis. Conservation priority maps created by using the conservation planning software called Zonation were presented. In the eastern and western areas, ecosystem services decreased with the loss of green space indicated by the authors in a previous study. The conservation priority level of the central area was relatively high due to the loss of green space. The results of this study are helpful planning for green space and offset-evaluating system.