Changing use of ecosystem services along a rural-urban continuum in the Indian Trans-Himalayas

Murali, Ranjini and Suryawanshi, Kulbushansingh and Redpath, Stephen and Nagendra, Harini and Mishra, Charudutt (2019) Changing use of ecosystem services along a rural-urban continuum in the Indian Trans-Himalayas. Ecosystem Services, 40. pp. 1-11. ISSN 2212-0416

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Abstract

Urbanization is changing the use of ecosystem services, especially in previously remote mountain areas in Asia, Africa, and South America that are now more accessible. Change in ES use is not uniform across society, but is impacted by socio-economic factors like income. We sought to understand changes in ES use along a gradient of urbanization, and as related to income differences along this gradient. Our study was conducted in Spiti Valley, a formerly remote region in the Indian trans-Himalayas that is undergoing urbanization. We employed household surveys and monetary valuation to assess use of local (wild plants, dung, wood, forage, water, fertilizer, barley) and imported (firewood and fertilizers) provisioning services. We used ANOVAs and ANCOVAs to test for differences in ES use with urbanization and income. We found that the use of local provisioning services decreased with urbanization, while that of imported provisioning services increased. In rural spaces, the use of local provisioning services did not change with income, while in small urban centres it increased with income. Across settlement types, imported ES use increased with income. Our findings highlight how ES use can change with relatively small amounts of urbanization. They also indicate that local provisioning services need to be made accessible not only to rural populations but also to those in relatively more urban areas.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Murali, Ranjini and Suryawanshi, Kulbushansingh and Redpath, Stephen and Nagendra, Harini and Mishra, Charudutt
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Provisioning services, Income, Indigenous community, Spiti Valley
Subjects:	Social sciences > Sociology & anthropology > Communities
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Development
Full Text Status:	Restricted
Related URLs:	Google Scholar
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/2086
Publisher URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/...

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