Bidecadal analysis of urbanization effects and ecosystem services at Haldwani, Western Himalayas, India

The study addresses the impact of urbanization on fragile ecosystems such as the Western Himalayas. One rapidly growing city in the Himalayan region is Haldwani, Uttarakhand, which has been subject to human encroachment and subsequent loss of ecosystem services. Several environmental parameters such as Nighttime light (NTL), Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs), Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), and forest cover are used in this study based on satellite imagery to allow a bidecadal comparison (between 2000 and 2020) of the status of these parameters for the city based on these parameters shows a decline in ecosystem services. Significant statistical differences for LSTs and AOD can be found in the bidecadal comparison. Furthermore, a strong negative effect was found between LST-NDVI (r = −0.69) and NTL-NDVI (r = −0.58) in earlier and last decade intervals. In addition, long-term multi-spectral satellite imagery also shows a decline in tree cover in the reserved forest. Therefore, focusing on ecosystem services related to tree cover in reserved forest areas, particularly in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) must be part of a broader action plan to address these issues to protect fragile Himalayan ecosystems further.