Impacts of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Ecosystem Service Values in the Eastern Amazon

Abstract

Since the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report, the concept of ecosystem services has gained visibility around the world, as many of these services are seen as essential for human well-being and their activities, and represent, in addition, an opportunity for financial support for conservation strategies of ecosystems under threat. In this context, this work aims to estimate the monetary values associated with ecosystem services and the losses linked to LULC change in the period of 1985-2021 in the Gurupi river basin, in one of the most deforested regions of the Brazilian Amazon. The results show that the decrease in forest areas caused a loss of monetary value of ecosystem services of US$ 1961 million. The net gain in the analyzed period derived mainly from the increase in agricultural areas devoted to soybean cultivation, with a reduction in areas devoted to other food crops, which may represent a risk to food security in the region.