Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecosystem Services journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoser The impact of land use/land cover change on ecosystem services in the central highlands of Ethiopia Terefe Tolessa a,b, ⁎ , Feyera Senbeta a , Moges Kidane b a Center for Environment and Development, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia b Department of Natural Resource Management, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Ambo University, Ethiopia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Ecosystem service Landscape change Payment for ecosystem services Land use/land cover Chillimo Livelihood ABSTRACT Ecosystems provide a wide range of services that are important for human-well being. Estimating the multiple services obtained from ecosystems is vital to support decision-making processes at different levels. This study analyzes land use/land cover (LU/LC) dynamics over four decades (i.e., 1973, 1986, 2001, 2015) to assess its impact on ecosystem services. Ecosystem Service Values (ESV) was determined using LU/LC analysis and established global data base. LU/LC analysis showed that forest cover reduced by 54.2% during study period; and settlement, bare land, shrub land and cultivated land increased considerably. The study indicates that due to forest cover change from 1973 to 2015, approximately US$ 3.69 million of ecosystem services values was lost. Among the ecosystem services reduced were: nutrient cycling, provision of raw material and erosion control. The use of LU/LC data along with established global ESV data sets reduce the costs of ground data collection, and help in tracking of past environmental changes and acquisition of quick and reliable results that can be used for decision making processes. We believe that the results obtained can be helpful in designing payment for environmental services and rural development policies. 1. Introduction Ecosystems provide a wide range of multiple services that vary in quantity and quality depending on the type of ecosystems and their status (MA, 2005). For example, grass land was found to be quite different in service provision compared to tropical forests (Costanza et al., 1997, 2014; de Groot et al., 2012), but each one of them provides a unique service that cannot be replaced by others. Certain services are local specific (pollination of agricultural crops) and others are global in their nature (mitigation of global climatic change). Many of these services are important for sustaining life on earth and maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. These services are, nevertheless, currently under great pressure due to anthropogenic activities and climate change. Among the human activities that reduce ecosystem services include land use/land cover (LU/LC) change in a given area driven by agricultural activities, settlements, built up areas and mining (Li et al., 2007; de Groot et al., 2010; Haines-Young et al., 2012; Kindu et al., 2016). The impacts of LU/LC change on ecosystem services vary across space and time (Costanza et al., 1997, 2014; de Marko and Coelho, 2004; Hu et al., 2008; de Groot et al., 2012; Haines- Young et al., 2012; Bryan, 2013). Expressing ecosystem services in monetary values is becoming a common practice to create awareness among users, provide evidence for decision/policy makers, help to know the opportunity costs of restoration and assist in payments for ecosystem service (Costanza et al., 1997; de Marko and Coelho, 2004; Nelson et al., 2009; de Groot et al., 2012; Alarcon et al., 2016). Since the completion of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) (2005), research revealed the possibilities to quantify ecosystem services (Nelson et al., 2009; de Bello et al., 2010; de Groot et al., 2012; Ango et al., 2014; Kindu et al., 2016). However, quantification of ecosystem services has been a concern because of the debates surrounding the methodologies used, the type of service measured and the results obtained. In addition, ecosystem service valuation was limited to specific service and mea- surements are not comprehensive across the World (Costanza et al., 1997, 2014; Nelson et al., 2009; de Groot et al., 2012; Summers et al., 2012; Satz et al., 2013; Kindu et al., 2016). Despite these limitations attempts to estimate ecosystem service values are undertaking and improve our knowledge, experience and skills to refine the drawbacks. For the past two decades much effort has been made to come up with encouraging results, although much is needed for the future to incorporate wide ecological regions and services (de Bello et al., 2010; Satz et al., 2013; Tadesse et al., 2014b). The highlands of Ethiopia ( > 1500 m above sea level (masl)) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.11.010 Received 12 June 2016; Received in revised form 7 November 2016; Accepted 22 November 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Center for Environment and Development, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. E-mail address: tertol2000@yahoo.com (T. Tolessa). Ecosystem Services 23 (2017) 47–54 2212-0416/ © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. crossmark