TY - JOUR
T1 - Urbanization-led land cover change impacts terrestrial carbon storage capacity
T2 - A high-resolution remote sensing-based nation-wide assessment in Pakistan (1990–2020)
AU - Waleed, Mirza
AU - Sajjad, Muhammad
AU - Shazil, Muhammad Shareef
N1 - Funding information:
We are thankful to all the institutes (mentioned within the text) for the provisioning of relevant data to carry out this valuable study. The research is conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. All the data used for several analyses are freely available and the resources are mentioned within the paper. The data generated from this study (i.e. LULC and high-resolution carbon storage) will be made available through a Google Earth Engine application. Further details and information in this regard are available at https://github.com/waleedgeo/lulc_pk.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - While carbon sequestration is significant to achieve the net zero and plays an important role in climate change mitigation, urbanization-led land use land cover (LULC) changes are causing significant impacts on the carbon stocks of terrestrial ecosystems. Despite rapid urbanization in Pakistan, previous studies focus solely on localized areas without documenting the influence of urbanization on carbon stock. Hence, insights regarding the carbon storage dynamics (CSD) in response to LULC changes become essential to drive informed decisions and policies. In this context, we leverage high-resolution (30 m) remote sensing data to evaluate and map the grid-level spatial-temporal interactions between urbanization and CSD at the national scale in Pakistan during 1990–2020. To do so, multi-sensor earth observation data are retrieved and processed using the Google Earth Engine and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs models. Our findings indicate that urban areas have expanded exponentially (an increase of ∼1040%), resulting in reduced carbon storage (a decrease of ∼ − 5%). Major cities (e.g., Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad) showed less urban sprawl while emerging cities (e.g., Rawalpindi and Peshawar) demonstrated higher urban sprawl, primarily due to shifting patterns from rangeland (∼47%) and agriculture (∼35%) to built-up class. Though some afforestation projects have increased forest carbon stocks in the northern region, there is a large north-south spatial heterogeneity in carbon storage loss across Pakistan. The presented high-resolution mapping of CSD over the past three decades advances our understanding of where and how much urbanization has influenced carbon sequestration, nationally. Considering the results, this study emphasizes the need for policies and management approaches that support sustainable urbanization, which does not compromise carbon pools in the country.
AB - While carbon sequestration is significant to achieve the net zero and plays an important role in climate change mitigation, urbanization-led land use land cover (LULC) changes are causing significant impacts on the carbon stocks of terrestrial ecosystems. Despite rapid urbanization in Pakistan, previous studies focus solely on localized areas without documenting the influence of urbanization on carbon stock. Hence, insights regarding the carbon storage dynamics (CSD) in response to LULC changes become essential to drive informed decisions and policies. In this context, we leverage high-resolution (30 m) remote sensing data to evaluate and map the grid-level spatial-temporal interactions between urbanization and CSD at the national scale in Pakistan during 1990–2020. To do so, multi-sensor earth observation data are retrieved and processed using the Google Earth Engine and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs models. Our findings indicate that urban areas have expanded exponentially (an increase of ∼1040%), resulting in reduced carbon storage (a decrease of ∼ − 5%). Major cities (e.g., Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad) showed less urban sprawl while emerging cities (e.g., Rawalpindi and Peshawar) demonstrated higher urban sprawl, primarily due to shifting patterns from rangeland (∼47%) and agriculture (∼35%) to built-up class. Though some afforestation projects have increased forest carbon stocks in the northern region, there is a large north-south spatial heterogeneity in carbon storage loss across Pakistan. The presented high-resolution mapping of CSD over the past three decades advances our understanding of where and how much urbanization has influenced carbon sequestration, nationally. Considering the results, this study emphasizes the need for policies and management approaches that support sustainable urbanization, which does not compromise carbon pools in the country.
KW - Carbon storage change detection
KW - Climate mitigation
KW - Cloud computing
KW - Google earth engine
KW - LULC
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180533016&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107396
DO - 10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107396
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85180533016
SN - 0195-9255
VL - 105
JO - Environmental Impact Assessment Review
JF - Environmental Impact Assessment Review
M1 - 107396
ER -