Tropical Coastal Land-Use and Land Cover Changes Impact on Ecosystem Service Value during Rapid Urbanization of Benin, West Africa

Abstract

West African coastal areas including the Beninese coastal zones have undergone an intensification of socio-economic activity in the last few decades that has been strongly driven by the effects of rapid urbanization. This has led to land-use and land cover changes that represent threats to the sustainability of various ecosystem functions. Such dynamics of land use and land cover changes pose challenges to coastal zone management. Correct assessment is vital for policymakers and planners to ensure efficient and sustainable use of the coastal ecosystem services, and it remains crucial to achieving sustainable coastal zone management. This study examines changes in land-use and land cover (LULC) and their impacts on ecosystem services value (ESV) fluctuations in the tropical coastal region of Benin, West Africa. We employed Globe Land 30 image data for the years 2010 and 2020, and the ESV fluctuations during the study period were evaluated using the benefit transfer approach (BTA) with corresponding local coefficients values and the GIS techniques. The results reveal that (1) in the current urbanizing coastal area, the LULC types have changed significantly, with obvious reductions in forest land and waterbodies and a considerable increase in artificial surfaces; (2) the total ESV decreased by 8.51% from USD 7.1557 million in 2010 to USD 6.5941 million in 2020; (3) the intensity of LULC in the coastal region has increased over the last 10 years; (4) regions with high land-use intensity have a high rate of ESV change; and (5) provisioning services are the greatest contributors of ESV (51% in 2010; 41% in 2020), followed by supporting services (37% in 2010; 35% in 2020) and regulating services (25% in 2010; 30% in 2020). Uncontrolled changes in LULC from forest land and waterbodies are the main causes of the loss in total ESV, necessitating urgent measures to improve the coastal ecosystem sustainability through effective planning and policies.