Evaluation of the Impact of Land Use Change and Climate Change on Watershed Ecosystem Services in the Chenyulan Watershed

Land use and climate change are both important drivers for ecosystem degradation. Human-driven land use changes, such as deforestation and urbanization, reduce ecosystem resilience to disasters. The impacts of climate change include global warming and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events such as storms, flood, and drought. In order to understand how land use change and climate change affect the ecosystem services in the Chenyulan Watershed, Taiwan, we first classified the satellite images during 2008-2013 for land use maps. The impact of cumulative natural disturbances on watershed was quantified by using a hydrological model, SWAT (soil and water assessment tool) under various historical (1996-2013) land use conditions. Based on our results, we could further develop an integrated plan including ecosystem service management, land use management and climate change adaptation to increase the resilience of the ecosystem in the Chenyulan Watershed.