Spatiotemporal assessment and valuation of provisioning ecosystem services of Pakistan

Abstract

Developing countries are often beset by poverty and hunger. While provisioning ecosystem services (Prov.ES) are essential for eradication of these issues, they are being rapidly depleted due to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. However, their depletion has not been accounted for in sustainable use policy. Taking Pakistan as a case study, this research focuses on assessing and evaluating the dynamics of Prov.ES. It evaluates the contribution of Prov.ES to poverty reduction using key indicators over different spatiotemporal scales. Among provisioning services, livestock’s contribution was the highest, followed by agricultural products, while fisheries and forests contributed the least. Prov.ES were shown to be important to Pakistan’s economy. Product analysis revealed that livestock was the most contributing service (53%), followed by agriculture (44%), while fisheries and forests contributed to a smaller extent (<2%). Livestock products, major crops, marine fish products, and medicinal plants are the main contributors in those respective fields. Our results showed a net present value of 569 US$/ha/year, which is very close to the median value of the 16 previous studies analyzed. Incorporating natural resource conservation into sustainable development policies, with a focus on the impacts of climate change and the increasing human population, is essential.