Ecosystem services-based approach to sustainable development in a peri-urban area of Chennai, India

Urban sprawl transforms urban–rural linkages and indiscriminately exploits natural resources, degrading the ecosystems in peri-urban areas (PUAs). In India, the absence of a planning mechanism to steer and manage this transformation of PUAs worsens the problem, with arbitrary changes in land-use–land-cover (LULC) adversely impacting biodiversity, climate, productivity and water resources. In PUAs, the environmental carrying capacity determined by the ecosystem services (ES) model can play a significant role in sustaining the ecology and economy of urban and rural areas. Recent research links LULC change with ES potential. Understanding LULC and ES dynamics in PUAs can promote synergy between future land planning and conservation of ecosystems. This paper presents an ecosystems-based approach to peri-urban development and environmental conservation management to promote sustainability of Indian cities. A generic, qualitative assessment of multiple ES potential for the LULC is obtained using the “expert matrix method” in a data-scarce scenario. The proposed approach is operationalized in a potentially developing PUA of Chennai. LULC change and ES dynamics are analyzed for two time periods in a GIS platform. It is observed that the study area experienced fast peri-urbanization between 2011 and 2015 as a result of which there is a decline in the provisioning and regulating ES potential. Multiple ES potential mapping shows LULC type—Water bodies, Forest and Agricultural land as crucial in providing and maintaining the ES potential of the study area. Spatially, the western part of the study area displays a low potential for ES and hence can be explored further for peri-urban development.