Applying an ecosystem services approach to support land-use planning: a case study in Koboko district, Uganda

Introduction: This paper presents a case study of the application of an ecosystem services framework to support land-use planning. The district of Koboko, in northwestern Uganda, formed the study area. The overall purpose was to improve the understanding of links between human actions, their impact on ecosystems and the services they provide, and, ultimately, consequences for human wellbeing. The framework developed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was used as a main conceptual reference. The analysis comprised four main stages: (1) identification of the main ecosystems and their services; (2) analysis of human wellbeing components, focusing on poverty issues; (3) assessment of the interrelations between ecosystem services and human wellbeing; (4) identification of the main drivers of change and development of future spatial development scenarios. Results: The scenarios were developed starting from the main drivers of change and show the dependency of human wellbeing on ecosystems services, identifying how spatial development strategies can affect that dependency. Quantitative information was not easily available, therefore scenario development made use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results of qualitative and quantitative approaches were consistent, proving the strength and flexibility of the method. Conclusions: Scenario results aim to provide guidance for local government land-use planning, focusing on the promotion of sustainability through ecosystem services preservation. The spatially explicit analysis illustrated how different policies affect urban development; it was clearly shown that even with very different demographic outcomes, the impact of sectorial policies guaranteed a good level of suitability for new residential areas. © 2014, Speziale and Geneletti; licensee Springer.