Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum
In 2006, the world’s population passed the threshold of being equally split between rural and urban areas. Since this point, urbanisation has continued, and the majority of the global population are now urban inhabitants. With this ongoing change, it is likely that the way people receive benefits fr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/430 |
| _version_ | 1797537306044792832 |
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| author | Indunee Welivita Simon Willcock Amy Lewis Dilshaad Bundhoo Tim Brewer Sarah Cooper Kenneth Lynch Sneha Mekala Prajna Paramita Mishra Kongala Venkatesh Dolores Rey Vicario Paul Hutchings |
| author_facet | Indunee Welivita Simon Willcock Amy Lewis Dilshaad Bundhoo Tim Brewer Sarah Cooper Kenneth Lynch Sneha Mekala Prajna Paramita Mishra Kongala Venkatesh Dolores Rey Vicario Paul Hutchings |
| author_sort | Indunee Welivita |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In 2006, the world’s population passed the threshold of being equally split between rural and urban areas. Since this point, urbanisation has continued, and the majority of the global population are now urban inhabitants. With this ongoing change, it is likely that the way people receive benefits from nature (ecosystem services; ES) has also evolved. Environmental theory suggests that rural residents depend directly on their local environment (conceptualised as green-loop systems), whereas urban residents have relatively indirect relationships with distant ecosystems (conceptualised as red-loop systems). Here, we evaluate this theory using survey data from >3000 households in and around Hyderabad, India. Controlling for other confounding socioeconomic variables, we investigate how flows of 10 ES vary across rural, peri-urban and urban areas. For most of the ES we investigated, we found no statistical differences in the levels of direct or indirect use of an ecosystem, the distance to the ecosystem, nor the quantities of ES used between rural and urban residents (<i>p</i> > 0.05). However, our results do show that urban people themselves often travel shorter distances than rural people to access most ES, likely because improved infrastructure in urban areas allows for the transport of ES from wider ecosystems to the locality of the beneficiaries’ place of residence. Thus, while we find some evidence to support red-loop–green-loop theory, we conclude that ES flows across the rural-urban spectrum may show more similarities than might be expected. As such, the impact of future urbanisation on ES flows may be limited, because many flows in both rural and urban areas have already undergone globalisation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:14:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2f2a4a303d3a48b6b8c3b22402369f5e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:14:13Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-2f2a4a303d3a48b6b8c3b22402369f5e2023-11-21T15:58:39ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2021-04-0110443010.3390/land10040430Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban SpectrumIndunee Welivita0Simon Willcock1Amy Lewis2Dilshaad Bundhoo3Tim Brewer4Sarah Cooper5Kenneth Lynch6Sneha Mekala7Prajna Paramita Mishra8Kongala Venkatesh9Dolores Rey Vicario10Paul Hutchings11School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, UKSchool of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, UKSchool of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, UKCountryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham GL50 4AZ, UKCranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UKCranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UKCountryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham GL50 4AZ, UKIndependent Researcher, Hyderabad 500046, IndiaSchool of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500046, IndiaSchool of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500046, IndiaCranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UKCranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UKIn 2006, the world’s population passed the threshold of being equally split between rural and urban areas. Since this point, urbanisation has continued, and the majority of the global population are now urban inhabitants. With this ongoing change, it is likely that the way people receive benefits from nature (ecosystem services; ES) has also evolved. Environmental theory suggests that rural residents depend directly on their local environment (conceptualised as green-loop systems), whereas urban residents have relatively indirect relationships with distant ecosystems (conceptualised as red-loop systems). Here, we evaluate this theory using survey data from >3000 households in and around Hyderabad, India. Controlling for other confounding socioeconomic variables, we investigate how flows of 10 ES vary across rural, peri-urban and urban areas. For most of the ES we investigated, we found no statistical differences in the levels of direct or indirect use of an ecosystem, the distance to the ecosystem, nor the quantities of ES used between rural and urban residents (<i>p</i> > 0.05). However, our results do show that urban people themselves often travel shorter distances than rural people to access most ES, likely because improved infrastructure in urban areas allows for the transport of ES from wider ecosystems to the locality of the beneficiaries’ place of residence. Thus, while we find some evidence to support red-loop–green-loop theory, we conclude that ES flows across the rural-urban spectrum may show more similarities than might be expected. As such, the impact of future urbanisation on ES flows may be limited, because many flows in both rural and urban areas have already undergone globalisation.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/430culturalprovisioningregulatinggreen-loopred-loopperi-urban |
| spellingShingle | Indunee Welivita Simon Willcock Amy Lewis Dilshaad Bundhoo Tim Brewer Sarah Cooper Kenneth Lynch Sneha Mekala Prajna Paramita Mishra Kongala Venkatesh Dolores Rey Vicario Paul Hutchings Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum Land cultural provisioning regulating green-loop red-loop peri-urban |
| title | Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum |
| title_full | Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum |
| title_fullStr | Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum |
| title_short | Evidence of Similarities in Ecosystem Service Flow across the Rural-Urban Spectrum |
| title_sort | evidence of similarities in ecosystem service flow across the rural urban spectrum |
| topic | cultural provisioning regulating green-loop red-loop peri-urban |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/4/430 |
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