• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.148-148
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• 2019

The 2006 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) defines ecosystem services (ES) as "the benefits people obtain from ecosystems". Identifying where ES originates, whom it benefits and how it is changing over a period of time is critical in rapidly developing country like Nepal, where the risk of ES loss is high. In the context of various ecosystem services provided by watershed, this study, particularly deals with water yield, Soil loss and Carbon sequestration computation and evaluation in Bagmati Basin of Nepal. As Bagmati Basin incorporates capital city Kathmandu of nepal, land use change is significant over decades and mapping of ES is crucial for sustainable development of Basin in future. In this regard, the objectives of this study are 1) To compute the total and sub-watershed scale water yield of the basin, 2) Computation of soil loss and sediment retention in the basin, and 3) Computation of carbon sequestration in the basin. Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), a popular model for ecosystem service assessment based on Budyko hydrological method is used to compute Ecosystem services. The scenario of ES in two periods of time can be referenced for various approaches of prioritization and incorporation of their value into local and regional decision making for management of basin.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.106-106
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• 2018

Ecosystem service valuation is a crucial step for the sustainable management of watershed. In the context of various ecosystem services provided by watershed, this study, particularly deals with water yield computation in Bagmati Basin of Nepal. The water availability per population in Bagmati Basin is lowest compared to other basins in Nepal. Also, the rate of urbanization is rapidly growing over a decade. In this regard, the objectives of this study are 1) to compute the total water yield of the basin along with computation on a sub-watershed scale, and 2) Study the impacts of land use change on water yield based on CLUE-S model. For the study, Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), a popular model for ecosystem service assessment based on Budyko hydrological method is used to compute water yield. As well, CLUE-S model is used to study land use change, which is further related to study variation on water yield. The sub-watershed wise outcome of the study is expected to provide the guidelines for the effective and economic management of a watershed on a regional scale.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.657-666
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• 2021

Ecosystem biodiversity is rapidly being lost due to changes in habitat, fragmentation of habitat, climate change, and land use changes by human activities. Recently, attempts have been made to approach the watershed management level to secure the health of the watershed, but studies on how to approach biodiversity and habitat management are still in lack. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the habitat quality of Geum river basin using Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) habitat quality model. The results of habitat quality was verified to eco-natural map and ecological watershed health evaluation results. The habitat quality of watershed was evaluated from 0 to 0.86 and the results showed that habitat quality was higher in upstream than downstream. Compared the habitat quality value in each eco-natural grade, the average habitat quality of 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades were 0.80, 0.76 and 0.71 respectively. The results of the correlation analysis with ecological watershed health data, the coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.58, and the person coefficient was 0.76. The results of this study may be used as foundation data to support habitat protection and implementation of long-term biodiversity-related policies.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.33-39
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• 2019

The upsurge of population, internal migration, economic activities and developmental works has brought significant land use and land cover (LULC) change over the period of 1990 and 2010 in the Bagmati basin of Nepal. Along with alteration on various other ecosystem services like water yield, water quality, soil loss etc. carbon sequestration is also altered. This study thus primary deals with evaluation of LULC change and its impact on the soil carbon storage for the period 1990 to 2010. For the evaluation, InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) Carbon model is used. Residential and several other infrastructural development activities were prevalent on the study period and as a result in 2010 major soil carbon reserve like forest area is decreased by 7.17% of its original coverage in 1990. This decrement has brought about a subsequent decrement of 1.39 million tons of carbon in the basin. Conversion from barren land, water bodies and built up areas to higher carbon reserve like forest and agriculture land has slightly increased soil carbon storage but still, net reduction is higher. Thus, the spatial output of the model in the form of maps is expected to help in decision making for future land use planning and for restoration policies.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.427-439
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• 2019

Natural environmental ecology ofthe environmental impact assessment(EIA)is very much lacking in quantitative evaluation. Thus, this study attempted to evaluate quantitative assessment for ecosystem service in the site of Eco-delta project in Busan. As a part of climate change adaptation, this study evaluated and compared with the value for carbon fixation and habitat quality using the InVEST model before and after development with three alternatives of land-use change. Carbon fixation showed 216,674.48 Mg of C (year 2000), and 203,474.25 Mg of C (year 2015)reducing about 6.1%, and in the future of year 2030 the value was dropped to 120,490.84 Mg of C which is 40% lower than year 2015. Alternative 3 of land use planning was the best in terms of carbon fixation showing 6,811.31 Mg of C. Habitat quality also changed from 0.57 (year 2000), 0.35 (year 2015), and 0.21 (year 2030) with continued degradation as development goes further. Alternative 3 also was the highest with 0.21(Alternative 1 : 0.20, Alternative 2 : 0.18). In conclusion,this study illustrated that quantitative method forland use change in the process of EIA can helpdecision making for stakeholders anddevelopers with serving the best scenario forlow impact of carbon. Also it can help better for land use plan, greenhouse gas and natural environmental assets in EIA. This study could be able to use in the environmental policy with numerical data of ecosystem and prediction. Supplemented with detailed analysis and accessibility of basic data, this method will make it possible for wide application in the ecosystem evaluation.