Department of Forestry, Wildlife & Environmental Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh-495 009, India
The wetland ecosystem provides several ecosystem services that support the life on earth and improve wellbeing of humans. In the era of rapid urbanization, the growing urban population can get benefit by implementing appropriate planning and management of wetland ecosystem services that are of prior importance. In order to comprehend the significance of the wetland ecosystem in an urban area, a study was conducted to evaluate the ecosystem services offered by 20 urban wetlands of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. This paper considers a case study from urban wetlands in order to understand the level of ecosystem services that they deliver. Based on the findings the highest significant positive contribution of any ecosystem service was local climate regulation (++ = 8), and primary production (+ = 15 each) was the most frequent ecosystem service making a positive contribution. In contrast, the most detrimental ecosystem services were livestock disease regulation and human disease regulation (- = 16 each), and waste disposal, water purification, and waste treatment (-- = 1). The highest Ecosystem Service Index among different categories was observed in Regulating services (0.66) and the lowest in Provisioning services (0.32). Trees growing in and around the ponds affects the ecosystem services provided by wetlands directly or indirectly. It has been observed that wetlands with the highest levels of recreation and tourism services have diversified tree species. The top 5 tree species most frequently observed around the wetlands are
Wetland, Urban settlement, Ecosystem services, Rapid assessment, Degradation
