Impact of Land Use Change on Ecosystem Services in a Coastal Town of Bangladesh

There is an interplay between land use change and ecosystem services. The relationship between land use change and ecosystem services was explored in Barisal Sadar Upazila, a small coastal town in Bangladesh. Land use changes in this municipality were analyzed using Landsat satellite images from 1980 to 2010 at 10 years intervals. It was found that the town experienced a rapid change in its ecosystem services in proportion to land use change, especially the conversion of agricultural land to urban settlement. In the town, the agricultural land, wetlands, and water bodies decreased by 30%, 47%, and 6% respectively from 1980 to 2010. On the contrary, urban land and rural land area increased by 201% and 23% respectively during the same period. Even though the land use change had brought economic development to the people of the town, there had been a negative impact on ecosystem services which calls for a balancing trade-off between economic development and conservation of ecosystem services for the greater benefit of the society, especially for the sustenance of the ecosystem.