Ecosystem Extent Account for Karnataka State, India

Ecosystems (terrestrial and aquatic) are vital for the survival of humans on the Earth. Ecosystems provide an array of goods (food, fodder, etc.) and services (remediation, clean air, water, etc.) that humans depend upon to sustain their lives. The stock of ecosystem resources (biotic and abiotic) that provide goods and services is referred to as natural capital. The services provided by these ecosystems support the economy and society. However, the contributions by the ecosystems or natural capital are often undervalued while making economic decisions. This necessitates accounting of natural resources to minimize overexploitation, mismanagement, etc. The process of accounting stocks and flows of goods and services (natural resources) in a given ecosystem of a region is often termed natural capital accounting. In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. A key feature of ecosystem accounting is its capacity to integrate spatially referenced data about ecosystems, which includes data about the location, size, and condition of ecosystems within a given area and how these are changing over time as per the official international framework for natural capital accounting (The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, SEEA). Ecosystem accounting entailed estimation of the extent of different ecosystem assets (EAs) in the study region (district and federal state) using temporal remote sensing data (acquired through space-borne sensors at regular intervals and available since 1970’s. This spatial data helps in compiling ecosystem extent accounts and provides an underlying infrastructure for measuring ecosystem conditions and modeling ecosystem services. The analyses of temporal remote sensing data helped in assessing the extent of changes of an ecosystem over time. Ecosystem extent accounts record the total area of each ecosystem, which is classified by type within an ecosystem accounting area and, over time, in a specified area (Karnataka State, India). The objective of this chapter is to assess the extent of ecosystems for select districts in Karnataka State through temporal remote sensing data with collateral data. This involves the assessment of land use dynamics using temporal remote sensing (RS) data. The latest RS data (2018/19) was analysed using supervised classification techniques, and compared with the land uses of the earlier years to understand the extent of ecosystems, extent of degradation, habitat loss, and deforestation rates. Ecosystem extent through land use analyses reveals that the agriculture ecosystem, with a spatial extent of 127,962 sq.km (66.72%) constitutes the major asset in Karnataka, India. This is followed by plantations (21,325 sq.km., 11.123%), evergreen forests (10,887 sq.km, 5.68%), moist deciduous forests (7892 sq.km, 4.12%), dry deciduous forests (4280 sq.km., 2.23%) and scrub grasslands (4906 sq.km, 2.56%). The State has 5.7% area under evergreen forest cover (2019) compared to 6.5% (2005) and 4% moist deciduous forests compared to 5.2%. The loss of evergreen and deciduous forest cover across the State articulates the anthropogenic pressure, which signifies an increase in monoculture and built-up areas. The State had 1.4% of the area under built-up (2005) compared to 3% in 2019. District-wise analyses reveal that the evergreen forest cover has lost from 68 to 29% in Uttara Kannada district, and the area under human habitation has increased during the last four decades, evident from the increase of built-up area from 0.38 to 5.2% (1973–2018). LU analyses of Shimoga highlight the loss of forest cover from 43.83% (1973) to 34% (2018) with the increase of built-up from 0.63% (1973) to 2.35% (2018), plantations (9–30%), industrial and cascaded developmental activities. Temporal LU analyses highlight that the major portion of Mysore district is under agriculture (66.57% in 2019), and a loss of moist deciduous forest cover from 3.8 to 2.2% is noticed. The built-up cover has increased from 0.3 to 5% due to the growth in Mysore city and its sub-urbans. The land use analysis of Belgaum district shows loss of evergreen forest cover from 7.75 to 5.64% from 1989 to 2019. Land use analyses portray changes in deciduous forest cover and an increase in scrub forest cover over four decades in Chamarajanagar district. Recurring fires in the Bandipur region have transformed large tracts of forests from deciduous to scrub cover. The region has shown an increase in agriculture by 37–43%. The spatio-temporal land use analysis of Kodagu district highlights the loss of evergreen cover and the increase in built-up and monoculture plantation areas. The region had an evergreen cover of 40.47–24.17% by 2019. The increase in resorts, buildings, and other infrastructure developments has resulted in an increase in built-up cover from 0.42 to 2.34%. The Davangere district has undergone changes in land use in built-up cover from 0.47% to 3.15%, horticulture area from 0.89 to 2.5%, and agriculture area from 83 to 79% from 1989 to 2019. The non-forest cover has increased to 85.31%.