Evaluation of Ecosystem Services Loss Due to Urban Sprawl on Agricultural Land in the Context of Sustainable Development
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Palacký University Olomouc Faculty of Science Department of Development and Environmental Studies Study programme: P1314 Geography Discipline: International Development Studies Evaluation of ecosystem services loss due to urban sprawl on agricultural land in the context of sustainable development Doctoral dissertation Ing. Kateřina Vrublová Supervisor: Doc. Ing. Ivo Machar, Ph. D. Olomouc 2019 This page is deliberately left blank. 1 I hereby declare that I have written this dissertation for the purposes of finalizing the International Development Studies at the Department of Development Studies of the Faculty of Science of Palacký University in Olomouc independently and under the supervision of Doc. Ing. Ivo Machar, Ph. D. All materials and resources used are cited with respect to scientific ethics, copyrights and intellectual property laws. Neither this work nor a substantial part of it has been submitted to obtain any other or the same academic degree. 14th March 2019, Brussels 2 I would like to thank my supervisor Ivo Machar for all his help and encouragement when developing this dissertation, my colleague Jaroslav Prazan for all his patience and explanation in the modelling phase and also my colleague Tamara Faberova for getting it through with the case studies and getting through the mud, in many cases quite literally. 3 1 INDEX 1 Index .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2 Abstract...................................................................................................................................... 6 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 10 4 Literature review ...................................................................................................................... 12 4.1. Ecosystem services .......................................................................................................... 12 4.1.1. Definition of ecosystem services.................................................................................. 12 4.1.2. Classification of ecosystem services ............................................................................. 13 4.1.3. Concept of ecosystem services .................................................................................... 15 4.1.4. Methods for evaluating ecosystem services ................................................................. 17 4.1.5. The relationship between ecosystem services and biodiversity ................................... 21 4.1.6. Ecosystem services and the concept of sustainability .................................................. 22 4.1.7. Ecosystem services and agriculture ............................................................................. 24 4.1.8. Initiatives for global assessment of ecosystem services ............................................... 25 4.1.9. Shortcomings of the ecosystem services evaluation approaches.................................. 26 4.2. Urban sprawl ................................................................................................................... 27 4.3. Sustainable development ................................................................................................ 29 5 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 31 5.1. Definition of terms .......................................................................................................... 31 5.2. Research objective, hypothesis and main research question ............................................ 32 5.3. Methods .......................................................................................................................... 33 5.3.1. Research question 1 – ecosystem services provided by agriculture land ...................... 33 5.3.2. Research question 2 – evaluation of ecosystem services provided by agriculture land . 33 5.3.3. Research question 3 – agricultural land lost due to urban sprawl................................. 42 5.4. Study area ....................................................................................................................... 43 5.4.1. Description of study area............................................................................................. 43 5.4.2. Basic physical features of the study area ..................................................................... 45 5.5. Research limitations ........................................................................................................ 55 6 Results...................................................................................................................................... 56 6.1. Ecosystem services provided by agriculture land in the study area .................................. 56 6.2. Evaluation of ecosystem services provided by agriculture land in the study area ............. 56 6.2.1. Prevention of water contamination ............................................................................. 56 4 6.2.2. Carbon sequestration .................................................................................................. 61 6.2.3. Production function..................................................................................................... 63 6.2.4. Prevention of soil erosion ............................................................................................ 65 6.3. Agriculture land lost due to urban sprawl in the study area ............................................. 73 7 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 86 8 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 100 9 References ............................................................................................................................. 102 10 List of tables ...................................................................................................................... 113 11 List of figures ..................................................................................................................... 114 12 Published work of the PhD student .................................................................................... 115 13 Annex I Classification of ecosystem services according to CICES ......................................... 116 14 Annex II Survey amongst farmers ....................................................................................... 123 5 2 ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on the ecosystem services which are provided by agriculture land and urban sprawl in the study area of municipality with extended powers Třebíč. The main focus of the dissertation is to evaluate what ecosystem services are provided to Czech society by the agricultural land and assess their financial value and also evaluate which ecosystem services disappear or are limited due to urban sprawl on agricultural land. The practical output of this dissertation will comprise of better insight on function and value of land under agriculture use which is lost due to urban development and raising the awareness amongst the society on the fast-growing trend of unsustainable urban sprawl. The main outcomes of this dissertation show that in most cases and for most of the typical arable crops in the Czech Republic, agriculture provides a disservice to the ecosystems rather than a service. The one notable exception is the provision of food, which is indeed the vital and primary function of agriculture land. The results also show that much can be done for a better provision of ecosystem services through sustainable management of land and through implementation of different practices and measures. As for the urban sprawl, the research shows that the area of agricultural land is indeed steadily decreasing and some if it can be attributed to urban sprawl. The analysis of possible future trends also showed that this development will continue. It can be concluded that even if agriculture land does not provide all ecosystem services, it is still our main resource of food. Some of the ecosystem services can be reinstated in urban ecosystems, yet the provision of food is hardly replaceable on a scale that would matter. As for the policies which impact all the elements included in this research, the Common Agricultural Policy influences the management of agricultural land, the spatial planning is controlled through Building Act and the agriculture land is also protected against urban development through Act on Protection of Agriculture Land Resources. The CAP can shape the agriculture towards a more sustainable management of land and better protection of environment, while the Building Act can be formulated to protect against uncontrolled urban sprawl and better preservation of rural areas and communities. The methodology used in the Act on Protection of Agriculture Land Resources to calculate the fees to change the landuse can also be updated with the ecosystem services evaluation to better reflect the evolving notions of ecosystem functioning and biodiversity protection. 6 As the wide notion of sustainable development suggests, the underlying issue of ecosystem disservice provision, land degradation, ownership fragmentation