Optimizing land-use allocation with respect to ecosystem services using linear programming

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Gorgan University

2 student

Abstract

Nowadays, there is a growing interest in the issue of ecosystem services and the impact of human activities on them. Unfortunately, in many cases humans have followed economic development without paying due attention to ecosystem services. Hence, many negative changes in ecosystem services have been brought about by inappropriate land-use change and management practices. Parallel with these negative trends, quantifying and mapping ecosystem services and incorporating them into the land-use optimization process has also witnessed a lot of development. As such, ecosystem services have opened their way into the land use planning and management process. This study attempts to examine how land-use allocation using linear programming can be enhanced with respect to soil erosion potential and water supply as two quintessential ecosystem services. The case study is located in a small part of Gorgan Township. Land-use categories have been considered as different ecosystems with different capabilities for water supply and soil erosion control. The objective function used for the linear programming was based on soil erosion potential and water supply in each parcel of land. To implement the study, the land-use management support system LUMASS was used. The process was done in two scenarios to minimize the amount of soil erosion in comparison with the current situation. The aim of the first scenario of land-use allocation was a decrease of more than 50% in the amount of soil erosion without limiting the area of land-use categories. For the second scenario, we attempted to allocate land-use with the aim of keeping the area of agriculture as close as possible to it's current coverage. Our results show that the amount of soil erosion in the first and the second scenario have respectively decreased by 61% and 10% in comparison with the non-optimizated situation. However, the best configuration of the land-use depends on the management goals. In this context the primary concern is that which land-use categories must be kept, decreased or increased in area to gain more overall benefit. Evidently, the desired decrease in soil erosion or appropriate changes in other criteria affect the results of land-use allocation.

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