Author(s): Jochen Hack, Manuel Beissler

Linked Author(s): Jochen Hack

Keywords: Urban river; Ecosystem Services; Assessment; Nicaragua;

Abstract: Rivers and their corridors are complex and unique habitats that provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Especially in urban areas, rivers are often the only remaining natural ecosystems but are at the same time under an enormous stress. Understanding and quantifying the potential of urban rivers to provide ecosystem services is of crucial importance for their protection and sustainable use. In developing countries, rivers in urban areas are under significant risk due to unplanned urbanization. With this contribution a methodology to assess the ecosystem status and derive the potential to provide ecosystem services of urban rivers and riparian corridors is presented. The assessment of the three ecological status categories: hydromorphology, water quality and riparian land cover, is based on low-cost field data and freely-available high resolution satellite images. These categories are used as proxies for biophysical structures and processes representing ecological functioning that enable urban rivers and riparian areas to provide ecosystem services. The potential to provide ecosystem services is assessed with a weighted combination of the three ecosystem status categories for 100 m long and 100 m wide river sections. The Pochote River, Nicaragua, is used to demonstrate the development and application of the methodology. For individual river sections, the potential to provide different regulating ecosystem services is then visualized and quantified. This spatially distributed information of urban river ecosystem service potential can serve as an important information for decision-making considering the protection and city development of these areas as well as the tailor-made development of nature-based solutions.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/38WC092019-1681

Year: 2019