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Dr. Ronald C. Estoque
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan

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0 Ecosystem Services
0 sustainability science
0 land change science
0 Social–ecological system
0 GIScience and remote sensing

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Journal article
Published: 24 July 2021 in Habitat International
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Tracking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires monitoring of various social-ecological indicators over space and time, including the ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate (LCRPGR), an indicator of land-use efficiency (SDG 11.3.1). In this study, we analyzed state-of-the-art Earth observation data (1975–2015) to address three key questions. First, how has the LCRPGR varied over space and time? Second, how is built-up expansion related to population increase across regions? Third, what are some important issues related to the SDGs' land-use efficiency concept? We found that the “Europe and Northern America” SDG region was the least efficient region, having the highest LCRPGR in 1975–2000 and 2000–2015, but the “Eastern and South-Eastern Asia” SDG region is catching up. The World Bank's “high income” region and the United Nations' “very high human development” region were the least efficient regions in 1975–2000, but their places were respectively taken over by the “upper middle income” and “high human development” regions in 2000–2015. Although land consumption rate and population growth rate were positively and significantly correlated at the global level, this was not always the case across regions, indicating that land consumption was not always proportionate to population increase. We identified the non-inclusion of changes in in situ natural capital and the external impacts of cities and urban regions as among the important limitations of the SDGs' land-use efficiency concept. This can be considered in its future reconceptualization.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka; Yuji Murayama. Monitoring global land-use efficiency in the context of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Habitat International 2021, 115, 102403 .

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Makoto Ooba, Takuya Togawa, Yasuaki Hijioka, Yuji Murayama. Monitoring global land-use efficiency in the context of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Habitat International. 2021; 115 ():102403.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka; Yuji Murayama. 2021. "Monitoring global land-use efficiency in the context of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." Habitat International 115, no. : 102403.

Article
Published: 15 February 2021 in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
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Land use/cover change is the main driving force of urban expansion which influences human–environment interactions. Generally, the formation of urban heat islands (UHIs) can be referred to as a negative “by-product” of urbanization. In the context of rapid urbanization, the present paper aims to capture the landscape changes and three patterns of urban expansion (i.e., infill, extension, and leapfrog), and provide a better understanding of the formation of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) in Dongguan, China, during the past 20+ years. Urban land increased from 28.87 × 103 ha in 1994 to 78.89 × 103 ha in 2005 and 101.05 × 103 ha in 2015, with a compound annual urban growth rate of 9.57% (1994–2005) and 2.51% (2005–2015), respectively. Based on the mean land surface temperature difference (Δ mean LST) between urban land (UL) and green space (GS), the SUHI intensity (SUHII) increased from 1.46 °C in 1994 to 2.32 °C in 2005 and 3.83 °C in 2015 in Dongguan. Overall, the Δ mean LST of urban areas increased from 2.61 °C (1994–2005) to 4.78 °C (2005–2015). The Δ mean LST between the city center and its surrounding areas decreased from 1994 to 2015, and the Δ mean LST between the city center and the suburbs gradually increased, primarily in 2015. In particular, both dense urban and the infill pattern of urban expansion had high mean LSTs in Dongguan, thus having negative impacts on sustainable urban development. The limited green space and open land should be strictly controlled or prohibited for transformation in urban areas. Particularly in dense regions, green roofs, green areas, and urban renewal actions could be considered for mitigating the urban heat island effect.

ACS Style

Xinmin Zhang; Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama; Manjula Ranagalage. Capturing urban heat island formation in a subtropical city of China based on Landsat images: implications for sustainable urban development. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 2021, 193, 1 -13.

AMA Style

Xinmin Zhang, Ronald C. Estoque, Yuji Murayama, Manjula Ranagalage. Capturing urban heat island formation in a subtropical city of China based on Landsat images: implications for sustainable urban development. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 2021; 193 (3):1-13.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xinmin Zhang; Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama; Manjula Ranagalage. 2021. "Capturing urban heat island formation in a subtropical city of China based on Landsat images: implications for sustainable urban development." Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 193, no. 3: 1-13.

Accepted manuscript
Published: 12 February 2021 in Environmental Research Letters
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With the intensifying challenges of global sustainability and biodiversity conservation, the monitoring of the world's remaining forests has become more important than ever. Today, Earth observation technologies, particularly remote sensing, are at the forefront of forest cover monitoring worldwide. Given the current conceptual understanding of what a forest is, canopy cover threshold values are used to map forest cover from remote sensing imagery and produce categorical data products such as forest/non-forest (F/NF) maps. However, multi-temporal categorical map products have important limitations because they inadequately represent the actual status of forest landscapes and the trajectories of forest cover changes as a result of the thresholding effect. Here, we examined the potential of using remotely sensed tree canopy cover (TCC) datasets, which are continuous data products, to complement F/NF maps for forest cover monitoring. We developed a conceptual analytical framework for forest cover monitoring using both types of data products and applied it to the forests of Southeast Asia. We conclude that TCC datasets and the statistics derived from them can be used to complement the information provided by categorical F/NF maps. TCC-based indicators (i.e., losses, gains, and net changes) can help in monitoring not only deforestation but also forest degradation and forest cover enhancement, all of which are highly relevant to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other global forest cover monitoring–related initiatives. We recommend that future research should focus on the production, application, and evaluation of TCC datasets to advance the current understanding of how accurately these products can capture changes in forest landscapes across space and time.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Brian Alan Johnson; Yan Gao; Rajarshi DasGupta; Makoto Ooba; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka; Yuji Murayama; Lilito D Gavina; Rodel D Lasco; Shogo Nakamura. Remotely sensed tree canopy cover–based indicators for monitoring global sustainability and environmental initiatives. Environmental Research Letters 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Brian Alan Johnson, Yan Gao, Rajarshi DasGupta, Makoto Ooba, Takuya Togawa, Yasuaki Hijioka, Yuji Murayama, Lilito D Gavina, Rodel D Lasco, Shogo Nakamura. Remotely sensed tree canopy cover–based indicators for monitoring global sustainability and environmental initiatives. Environmental Research Letters. 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Brian Alan Johnson; Yan Gao; Rajarshi DasGupta; Makoto Ooba; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka; Yuji Murayama; Lilito D Gavina; Rodel D Lasco; Shogo Nakamura. 2021. "Remotely sensed tree canopy cover–based indicators for monitoring global sustainability and environmental initiatives." Environmental Research Letters , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 18 January 2021 in Remote Sensing
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Urban wetland ecosystems (UWEs) play important social and ecological roles but are often adversely affected by urban landscape transformations. Spatio-temporal analyses to gain insights into the trajectories of landscape changes in these ecosystems are needed for better landscape planning towards sustainable UWEs. In this study, we examined the impacts of urbanization on the Muthurajawela Marsh and Negombo Lagoon (MMNL), an important UWE in Sri Lanka that provides valuable ecosystem services. We used remote sensing data to detect changes in the land use/cover (LUC) of the MMNL over a two-decade period (1997–2017) and spatial metrics to characterize changes in landscape composition and configuration. The results revealed that the spatial and socio-economic elements of rapid urbanization of the MMNL had been the main driver of transformation of its natural environment over the past 20 years. This is indicated by a substantial expansion of settlements (+68%) and a considerable decrease of marshland and mangrove cover (−41% and −21%, respectively). A statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship between the change in population density and the loss of wetland due to settlement expansion at the Grama Niladhari division level (n = 99) (where wetland includes marshland, mangrove, and water) (1997–2007: R2 = 0.435, p = 0.000; 2007–2017: R2 = 0.343, p = 0.000). The findings also revealed that most of the observed LUC changes occurred in areas close to roads and growth nodes (viz. Negombo, Ja-Ela, Wattala, and Katana), which resulted in both landscape fragmentation and infill urban expansion. We conclude that, in order to ensure the sustainability of the MMNL, there is an urgent need for forward-looking landscape and urban planning to promote environmentally conscious urban development in the area which is a highly valuable UWE.

ACS Style

Darshana Athukorala; Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama; Bunkei Matsushita. Impacts of Urbanization on the Muthurajawela Marsh and Negombo Lagoon, Sri Lanka: Implications for Landscape Planning Towards a Sustainable Urban Wetland Ecosystem. Remote Sensing 2021, 13, 316 .

AMA Style

Darshana Athukorala, Ronald C. Estoque, Yuji Murayama, Bunkei Matsushita. Impacts of Urbanization on the Muthurajawela Marsh and Negombo Lagoon, Sri Lanka: Implications for Landscape Planning Towards a Sustainable Urban Wetland Ecosystem. Remote Sensing. 2021; 13 (2):316.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Darshana Athukorala; Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama; Bunkei Matsushita. 2021. "Impacts of Urbanization on the Muthurajawela Marsh and Negombo Lagoon, Sri Lanka: Implications for Landscape Planning Towards a Sustainable Urban Wetland Ecosystem." Remote Sensing 13, no. 2: 316.

Review
Published: 05 August 2020 in Remote Sensing
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The author wishes to make the following corrections to this paper

ACS Style

Ronald Estoque. Erratum: Estoque, R. C. A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1770. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 2512 .

AMA Style

Ronald Estoque. Erratum: Estoque, R. C. A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1770. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (16):2512.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald Estoque. 2020. "Erratum: Estoque, R. C. A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1770." Remote Sensing 12, no. 16: 2512.

Review
Published: 31 May 2020 in Remote Sensing
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The formulation of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) was a major leap forward in humankind’s quest for a sustainable future, which likely began in the 17th century, when declining forest resources in Europe led to proposals for the re-establishment and conservation of forests, a strategy that embodies the great idea that the current generation bears responsibility for future generations. Global progress toward SDG fulfillment is monitored by 231 unique social-ecological indicators spread across 169 targets, and remote sensing (RS) provides Earth observation data, directly or indirectly, for 30 (18%) of these indicators. Unfortunately, the UN Global Sustainable Development Report 2019—The Future is Now: Science for Achieving Sustainable Development concluded that, despite initial efforts, the world is not yet on track for achieving most of the SDG targets. Meanwhile, through the EO4SDG initiative by the Group on Earth Observations, the full potential of RS for SDG monitoring is now being explored at a global scale. As of April 2020, preliminary statistical data were available for 21 (70%) of the 30 RS-based SDG indicators, according to the Global SDG Indicators Database. Ten (33%) of the RS-based SDG indicators have also been included in the SDG Index and Dashboards found in the Sustainable Development Report 2019—Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. These statistics, however, do not necessarily reflect the actual status and availability of raw and processed geospatial data for the RS-based indicators, which remains an important issue. Nevertheless, various initiatives have been started to address the need for open access data. RS data can also help in the development of other potentially relevant complementary indicators or sub-indicators. By doing so, they can help meet one of the current challenges of SDG monitoring, which is how best to operationalize the SDG indicators.

ACS Style

Ronald Estoque. A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 1770 .

AMA Style

Ronald Estoque. A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (11):1770.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald Estoque. 2020. "A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing." Remote Sensing 12, no. 11: 1770.

Journal article
Published: 21 May 2020 in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
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Rapid urbanization, particularly in developing countries, is widely regarded as one of the most critical global issues in the 21 st century. It is known to exacerbate urban heat island effects, a phenomenon that could affect the livability of cities and the lives and comfort of more than half of the world population who are now living in urban areas. The issue on how to mitigate the impacts of this phenomenon and help urban dwellers adapt to it, has been, and continues to be, an important topic in the context of landscape design and urban planning. This study sought to examine the cooling effects of different land cover types from the perspectives of landscape composition and configuration using Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS data. Various spatial and statistical approaches, including urban-rural gradient, grid-based, landscape metrics, and scatter plot, were employed to analyze the derived land cover and land surface temperature (LST) maps. The results showed that both forest and water had a cooling effect during daytime in Hangzhou. The heat core in Hangzhou was situated close to the central business district and the variance in LST in urban and rural recorded at 3.22℃. The correlation of forest density with mean LST could be detected in both large (690 m) and small (210 m) grids, whereas the correlation of water density with mean LST was only observed in small grids. In general, forest with high aggregation and complex shape behave best in cooling LST while huge and complete water bodies had better cooling effect than scattered water patches. Besides, the minimum cooling scale of forest and water were proximately 120 m and 150 m from the cooling resources to the neighboring areas, respectively. The findings were considered valuable for urban planners to spatially and architecturally build and arrange the cooling land cover resources, eventually to fulfill the Chinese government’s new plan of building “livable cities”.

ACS Style

Hao Hou; Ronald C. Estoque. Detecting Cooling Effect of Landscape from Composition and Configuration: An Urban Heat Island Study on Hangzhou. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 2020, 53, 126719 .

AMA Style

Hao Hou, Ronald C. Estoque. Detecting Cooling Effect of Landscape from Composition and Configuration: An Urban Heat Island Study on Hangzhou. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. 2020; 53 ():126719.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hao Hou; Ronald C. Estoque. 2020. "Detecting Cooling Effect of Landscape from Composition and Configuration: An Urban Heat Island Study on Hangzhou." Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 53, no. : 126719.

Perspective
Published: 06 May 2020 in Ambio
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The conceptualization of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) framework represented a major leap in scenario development in the context of global environmental change and sustainability, providing significant advances from the previous scenario frameworks—especially the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. It is highly likely that the SSP concept, along with its scenario narratives and their respective results, including land-use change projections, will play a substantial role in the forthcoming Sixth Assessment Report by the IPCC. Here, we offer some insights that could make the SSPs’ projected future changes in global land use more comprehensive and also help improve the interpretability of such projections. For example, instead of focusing on the quantity of each land-use class at various time points which results only in a net change when change is detected between time points, we recommend that the projected gross gains and gross losses in each land-use class across all scenarios should also be considered. Overall, the insights presented could also help pave the way for stronger collaboration between the SSP-climate science community and the land system science community; such collaboration is much needed in addressing the challenges of global environmental change towards a climate-resilient sustainable development pathway.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka. Projected land-use changes in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: Insights and implications. Ambio 2020, 49, 1972 -1981.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Makoto Ooba, Takuya Togawa, Yasuaki Hijioka. Projected land-use changes in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: Insights and implications. Ambio. 2020; 49 (12):1972-1981.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka. 2020. "Projected land-use changes in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: Insights and implications." Ambio 49, no. 12: 1972-1981.

Journal article
Published: 27 March 2020 in Nature Communications
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More than half of the world’s population currently live in urban areas and are particularly at risk from the combined effects of the urban heat island phenomenon and heat increases due to climate change. Here, by using remotely sensed surface temperature data and social-ecological indicators, focusing on the hot dry season, and applying the risk framework of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we assessed the current heat health risk in 139 Philippine cities, which account for about 40% of the country’s total population. The cities at high or very high risk are found in Metro Manila, where levels of heat hazard and exposure are high. The most vulnerable cities are, however, found mainly outside the national capital region, where sensitivity is higher and capacity to cope and adapt is lower. Cities with high levels of heat vulnerability and exposure must be prioritized for adaptation. Our results will contribute to risk profiling in the Philippines and to the understanding of city-level heat health risks in developing regions of the Asia-Pacific.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Xerxes Seposo; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka; Kiyoshi Takahashi; Shogo Nakamura. Heat health risk assessment in Philippine cities using remotely sensed data and social-ecological indicators. Nature Communications 2020, 11, 1 -12.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Makoto Ooba, Xerxes Seposo, Takuya Togawa, Yasuaki Hijioka, Kiyoshi Takahashi, Shogo Nakamura. Heat health risk assessment in Philippine cities using remotely sensed data and social-ecological indicators. Nature Communications. 2020; 11 (1):1-12.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Xerxes Seposo; Takuya Togawa; Yasuaki Hijioka; Kiyoshi Takahashi; Shogo Nakamura. 2020. "Heat health risk assessment in Philippine cities using remotely sensed data and social-ecological indicators." Nature Communications 11, no. 1: 1-12.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2019 in Science of The Total Environment
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Land abandonment, e.g. agricultural land abandonment, can result in various social and ecological impacts. It would thus be helpful if the extent and spatial pattern of future land abandonment could be projected. However, the trajectory of future land abandonment generally depends on various factors, including biophysical conditions and future changes in socioeconomic indicators in the area. In this study, we developed a general framework for a scenario-based land abandonment projection, featuring a coupled regional economic and spatially explicit land change modeling approach. We applied this framework in selected municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, under two socioeconomic development scenarios (2014-2050): low population and economic growth (LL scenario) and high population and economic growth (HH scenario). The case study results, which are also visualized through a set of hot spot maps, revealed that agricultural land abandonment would be more intense under the HH scenario due to the much higher future decline in farmer population driven by the shift in people's employment and main source of livelihood. Under the LL scenario, residential and urban land abandonment would be more profound because of the much higher future decline in total population. In general, our results provide insights into some plausible future socioeconomic changes, their interplay and their consequent land abandonment in the case study area, which would be useful in the context of forward-looking adaptive development planning. The proposed framework can be applied to other case study areas.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Kei Gomi; Takuya Togawa; Makoto Ooba; Yasuaki Hijioka; Chiaki M. Akiyama; Shogo Nakamura; Akira Yoshioka; Keisuke Kuroda. Scenario-based land abandonment projections: Method, application and implications. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 692, 903 -916.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Kei Gomi, Takuya Togawa, Makoto Ooba, Yasuaki Hijioka, Chiaki M. Akiyama, Shogo Nakamura, Akira Yoshioka, Keisuke Kuroda. Scenario-based land abandonment projections: Method, application and implications. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 692 ():903-916.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Kei Gomi; Takuya Togawa; Makoto Ooba; Yasuaki Hijioka; Chiaki M. Akiyama; Shogo Nakamura; Akira Yoshioka; Keisuke Kuroda. 2019. "Scenario-based land abandonment projections: Method, application and implications." Science of The Total Environment 692, no. : 903-916.

Chapter
Published: 22 September 2019 in Ground Motion Seismology
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Urbanization has two types of impacts: positive and negative. On the one hand, urbanization brings positive impacts to society as it helps improve the social and economic aspects of people’s lives. On the other hand, urbanization brings negative social and ecological impacts, both locally and globally. This chapter discusses the concept of urbanization in the context of human geoscience, including its history, mechanism, and trend in the modern world. It presents an overview of the negative ecological and social impacts associated with urbanization, such as urban heat island, air pollution, flooding, health, urban poverty, crimes and violence, and traffic congestion. This chapter also discusses the inclusion of urbanization to the global sustainable development agenda, as well as the importance of geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, for urban monitoring towards sustainable urban development.

ACS Style

Yuji Murayama; Ronald C. Estoque. Urbanization: Concept, Mechanism, and Global Implications. Ground Motion Seismology 2019, 261 -282.

AMA Style

Yuji Murayama, Ronald C. Estoque. Urbanization: Concept, Mechanism, and Global Implications. Ground Motion Seismology. 2019; ():261-282.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yuji Murayama; Ronald C. Estoque. 2019. "Urbanization: Concept, Mechanism, and Global Implications." Ground Motion Seismology , no. : 261-282.

Journal article
Published: 10 July 2019 in Remote Sensing
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Africa’s unprecedented, uncontrolled and unplanned urbanization has put many African cities under constant ecological and environmental threat. One of the critical ecological impacts of urbanization likely to adversely affect Africa’s urban dwellers is the urban heat island (UHI) effect. However, UHI studies in African cities remain uncommon. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the relationship between land surface temperature (LST) and the spatial patterns, composition and configuration of impervious surfaces/green spaces in four African cities, Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Lusaka (Zambia). Landsat OLI/TIRS data and various geospatial approaches, including urban–rural gradient, urban heat island intensity, statistics and urban landscape metrics-based techniques, were used to facilitate the analysis. The results show significantly strong correlation between mean LST and the density of impervious surface (positive) and green space (negative) along the urban–rural gradients of the four African cities. The study also found high urban heat island intensities in the urban zones close (0 to 10 km) to the city center for all cities. Generally, cities with a higher percentage of the impervious surface were warmer by 3–4 °C and vice visa. This highlights the crucial mitigating effect of green spaces. We also found significant correlations between the mean LST and urban landscape metrics (patch density, size, shape, complexity and aggregation) of impervious surfaces (positive) and green spaces (negative). The study revealed that, although most African cities have relatively larger green space to impervious surface ratio with most green spaces located beyond the urban footprint, the UHI effect is still evident. We recommend that urban planners and policy makers should consider mitigating the UHI effect by restoring the urban ecosystems in the remaining open spaces in the urban area and further incorporate strategic combinations of impervious surfaces and green spaces in future urban and landscape planning.

ACS Style

Matamyo Simwanda; Manjula Ranagalage; Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama. Spatial Analysis of Surface Urban Heat Islands in Four Rapidly Growing African Cities. Remote Sensing 2019, 11, 1645 .

AMA Style

Matamyo Simwanda, Manjula Ranagalage, Ronald C. Estoque, Yuji Murayama. Spatial Analysis of Surface Urban Heat Islands in Four Rapidly Growing African Cities. Remote Sensing. 2019; 11 (14):1645.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Matamyo Simwanda; Manjula Ranagalage; Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama. 2019. "Spatial Analysis of Surface Urban Heat Islands in Four Rapidly Growing African Cities." Remote Sensing 11, no. 14: 1645.

Journal article
Published: 23 April 2019 in Nature Communications
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While Southeast Asia’s forests play important roles in biodiversity conservation and global carbon (C) balance, the region is also a deforestation hotspot. Here, we consider the five shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) to portray a range of plausible futures for the region’s forests, employing a state-of-the-art land change modelling procedure and remotely sensed data. We find that by 2050 under the worst-case scenario, SSP 3 (regional rivalry/a rocky road), the region’s forests would shrink by 5.2 million ha. The region’s aboveground forest carbon stock (AFCS) would decrease by 790 Tg C, 21% of which would be due to old-growth forest loss. Conversely, under the best-case scenario, SSP 1 (sustainability/taking the green road), the region is projected to gain 19.6 million ha of forests and 1651 Tg C of AFCS. The choice of the pathway is thus critical for the future of the region’s forests and their ecosystem functions and services. Southeast Asia’s forests play important roles in the society, but the region is a deforestation hotspot. Here, the authors examined the future changes in the region’s forests under different scenarios and found that by 2050 under a regional rivalry/rocky road scenario, the region’s forests would shrink by 5.2 million ha.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Valerio Avitabile; Yasuaki Hijioka; Rajarshi DasGupta; Takuya Togawa; Yuji Murayama. The future of Southeast Asia’s forests. Nature Communications 2019, 10, 1 -12.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Makoto Ooba, Valerio Avitabile, Yasuaki Hijioka, Rajarshi DasGupta, Takuya Togawa, Yuji Murayama. The future of Southeast Asia’s forests. Nature Communications. 2019; 10 (1):1-12.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Makoto Ooba; Valerio Avitabile; Yasuaki Hijioka; Rajarshi DasGupta; Takuya Togawa; Yuji Murayama. 2019. "The future of Southeast Asia’s forests." Nature Communications 10, no. 1: 1-12.

Research article
Published: 11 February 2019 in PLOS ONE
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This paper presents global research trends involving highly cited articles on ecosystem services from 1981 to 2017 based on a bibliometric analysis of such articles from the SCI-E and SSCI databases of the Web of Science. The analysis revealed that there were 132 highly cited articles, most of which were published between 2005 and 2014. Based on author keywords, the term ecosystem services was strongly linked to biodiversity. The top three journals in terms of total number of highly cited articles published were Ecological Economics, PNAS, and Ecological Indicators. Despite ranking sixth overall, Science ranked first in both impact factor and total citations per article. The US, UK, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden were the top five most productive and cooperative countries in the world based on total number of highly cited articles and co-authorship network, respectively. The US was highly connected to Canada, the Netherlands, China and the UK. Stockholm University and Stanford University were the most productive institutions in Europe and North America, respectively. Stanford University is associated with many scholars in the field of ecosystem services research because of the InVEST model. Robert Costanza was the most prolific and highly cited author, the latter being largely due to the first valuation of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital, he and his co-authors published in 1997 in Nature. Terrestrial, urban, and forest ecosystems were the top types of ecosystems assessed. Regulating and provisioning services were the major ecosystem services studied. Quantitative and qualitative assessments were the main research focus. Most of these highly cited studies on ecosystem services are done on areas geographically located in North America and Europe.

ACS Style

Xinmin Zhang; Ronald C. Estoque; Hualin Xie; Yuji Murayama; Manjula Ranagalage. Bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles on ecosystem services. PLOS ONE 2019, 14, e0210707 .

AMA Style

Xinmin Zhang, Ronald C. Estoque, Hualin Xie, Yuji Murayama, Manjula Ranagalage. Bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles on ecosystem services. PLOS ONE. 2019; 14 (2):e0210707.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xinmin Zhang; Ronald C. Estoque; Hualin Xie; Yuji Murayama; Manjula Ranagalage. 2019. "Bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles on ecosystem services." PLOS ONE 14, no. 2: e0210707.

Review
Published: 11 September 2018 in Ambio
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Quality of life (QOL), although a complex and amorphous concept, is a term that warrants attention, especially in discussions on issues that touch on the impacts of climate change and variability. Based on the principles of RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Synthesis, we present a systematic review aimed at gaining insights into the conceptualization and methodological construct of previous studies regarding QOL and QOL-related indexes. We find that (i) QOL assessments vary in terms of conceptual foundations, dimensions, indicators, and units of analysis, (ii) social indicators are consistently used across assessments, (iii) most assessments consider indicators that pertain to the livability of the environment, and (iv) QOL can be based on objective indicators and/or subjective well-being, and on a composite index or unaggregated dimensions and indicators. However, we also find that QOL assessments remain poorly connected with climate-related issues, an important research gap. Our proposed “QOL-Climate” assessment framework, designed to capture the social-ecological impacts of climate change and variability, can potentially help fill this gap.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Takuya Togawa; Makoto Ooba; Kei Gomi; Shogo Nakamura; Yasuaki Hijioka; Yasuko Kameyama. A review of quality of life (QOL) assessments and indicators: Towards a “QOL-Climate” assessment framework. Ambio 2018, 48, 619 -638.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Takuya Togawa, Makoto Ooba, Kei Gomi, Shogo Nakamura, Yasuaki Hijioka, Yasuko Kameyama. A review of quality of life (QOL) assessments and indicators: Towards a “QOL-Climate” assessment framework. Ambio. 2018; 48 (6):619-638.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Takuya Togawa; Makoto Ooba; Kei Gomi; Shogo Nakamura; Yasuaki Hijioka; Yasuko Kameyama. 2018. "A review of quality of life (QOL) assessments and indicators: Towards a “QOL-Climate” assessment framework." Ambio 48, no. 6: 619-638.

Journal article
Published: 22 August 2018 in ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
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Presently, the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, and its adverse impacts, are becoming major research foci in various interrelated fields due to rapid changes in urban ecological environments. Various cities have been investigated in previous studies, and most of the findings have facilitated the introduction of proper mitigation measures to overcome the negative impact of UHI. At present, most of the mountain cities of the world have undergone rapid urban development, and this has resulted in the increasing surface UHI (SUHI) phenomenon. Hence, this study focuses on quantifying SUHI in Kandy City, the world heritage tropical mountain city of Sri Lanka, using Landsat data (1996 and 2017) based on the mean land surface temperature (LST), the difference between the fraction of impervious surfaces (IS), and the fraction of green space (GS). Additionally, we examined the relationship of LST to the green space/impervious surface fraction ratio (GS/IS fraction ratio) and the magnitude of the GS/IS fraction ratio. The SUHI intensity (SUHII) was calculated based on the temperature difference between main land use/cover categories and the temperature difference between urban-rural zones. We demarcated the rural zone based on the fraction of IS recorded,

ACS Style

Manjula Ranagalage; Dmslb Dissanayake; Yuji Murayama; Xinmin Zhang; Ronald C. Estoque; Enc Perera; Takehiro Morimoto. Quantifying Surface Urban Heat Island Formation in the World Heritage Tropical Mountain City of Sri Lanka. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 2018, 7, 341 .

AMA Style

Manjula Ranagalage, Dmslb Dissanayake, Yuji Murayama, Xinmin Zhang, Ronald C. Estoque, Enc Perera, Takehiro Morimoto. Quantifying Surface Urban Heat Island Formation in the World Heritage Tropical Mountain City of Sri Lanka. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. 2018; 7 (9):341.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Manjula Ranagalage; Dmslb Dissanayake; Yuji Murayama; Xinmin Zhang; Ronald C. Estoque; Enc Perera; Takehiro Morimoto. 2018. "Quantifying Surface Urban Heat Island Formation in the World Heritage Tropical Mountain City of Sri Lanka." ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 7, no. 9: 341.

Journal article
Published: 22 August 2018 in Forest Ecology and Management
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The La Mesa Watershed (LMW) is considered as the ‘lungs’ and the last ecological frontier of the Philippines’ National Capital Region, Metro Manila. It is among the many watersheds in the country that suffered from severe deforestation in the past. Nevertheless, over the past few decades, reforestation programs for the LMW have also been initiated. The spatiotemporal monitoring of landscape pattern (composition and configuration) is needed to inform policy and support forward-looking management planning toward landscape sustainability. However, the changes in the landscape pattern of the LMW, including the extent of forest cover loss and gain over the past decades, have not been quantified; hence, this study. We used remote sensing data (Landsat) to classify the land use/land cover of the LMW in 1988, 2002 and 2016. We subsequently used spatial metrics to quantify the changes in the landscape pattern of the watershed. We found that between 1988 and 2002, a period that largely preceded the start of the LMW’s major rehabilitation (c. 1999), the watershed had a net forest cover loss of 259 ha. From 2002 to 2016, it had a net forest cover gain of 557 ha. The detected increase in forest cover was supported by the percent tree cover change analysis results based on MODIS data. The deforestation of the LMW resulted in landscape fragmentation as indicated by the decrease in the area of forest and mean forest patch size, and the increase in forest patch density, etc. Forest restoration activities have helped improve the watershed’s landscape connectivity as signified by the increase in the area of forest and mean forest patch size, and the decrease in forest patch density, etc. The results also revealed that rapid urbanization has been a major factor driving landscape changes around the LMW, and this requires proactive, forward-looking management planning. Overall, the LMW’s case presents some valuable learning experience and insights regarding public-private partnerships toward watershed and forest-related rehabilitation initiatives. On a national scale, the Philippine government has embarked on a massive national greening program. The findings of this study suggest that such efforts could lead to the enhancement of denuded forest areas, if done properly.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama; Rodel D. Lasco; Soe W. Myint; Florencia B. Pulhin; Chuyuan Wang; Makoto Ooba; Yasuaki Hijioka. Changes in the landscape pattern of the La Mesa Watershed – The last ecological frontier of Metro Manila, Philippines. Forest Ecology and Management 2018, 430, 280 -290.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Yuji Murayama, Rodel D. Lasco, Soe W. Myint, Florencia B. Pulhin, Chuyuan Wang, Makoto Ooba, Yasuaki Hijioka. Changes in the landscape pattern of the La Mesa Watershed – The last ecological frontier of Metro Manila, Philippines. Forest Ecology and Management. 2018; 430 ():280-290.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Yuji Murayama; Rodel D. Lasco; Soe W. Myint; Florencia B. Pulhin; Chuyuan Wang; Makoto Ooba; Yasuaki Hijioka. 2018. "Changes in the landscape pattern of the La Mesa Watershed – The last ecological frontier of Metro Manila, Philippines." Forest Ecology and Management 430, no. : 280-290.

Primary research articles
Published: 27 July 2018 in Global Change Biology
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Myanmar is one of the mangrove‐richest countries in the world, providing valuable ecosystem services to people. However, due to deforestation driven primarily by agricultural expansion, Myanmar's mangrove forest cover has declined dramatically over the past few decades, while what remains is still under pressure. To support management planning, accurate quantification of mangrove forest cover changes on a national scale is needed. In this study, we quantified Myanmar's mangrove forest cover changes between 2000 and 2014 using remotely sensed data, examined the environmental impacts of such changes, and estimated the changes in the economic values of mangrove ecosystem services in the country. Results indicate that Myanmar had a net mangrove loss of 191,122 ha over the study period. Since 2000, Myanmar has been losing mangrove forest cover at an alarming rate of 14,619 ha yr−1 (2.2% yr−1). The loss was predominant in Rakhine and Ayeyarwady. The observed mangrove forest cover loss has resulted in decreased evapotranspiration, carbon stock, and tree cover percentage. Due to deforestation, Myanmar also suffered a net loss of 2397 million US$ yr−1 in its mangrove ecosystem service value, in which maintenance of fisheries nursery populations and habitat and coastal protection were among those services that were greatly affected. We suggest that intensive reforestation and mangrove protection programs be implemented immediately. Agroforestry and community forestry programs are encouraged in areas that are under immense pressure from paddy field expansion, fuelwood extraction, charcoal burning, and fish and shrimp farming activities. Potential alternative sustainable solutions should include intensive government‐led private forest plantations or community‐owned forest plantations to be developed with care by local farmers, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and business owners. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Soe W. Myint; Chuyuan Wang; Asif Ishtiaque; Toe T. Aung; Lucy Emerton; Makoto Ooba; Yasuaki Hijioka; Myat S. Mon; Zhe Wang; Chao Fan. Assessing environmental impacts and change in Myanmar's mangrove ecosystem service value due to deforestation (2000–2014). Global Change Biology 2018, 24, 5391 -5410.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Soe W. Myint, Chuyuan Wang, Asif Ishtiaque, Toe T. Aung, Lucy Emerton, Makoto Ooba, Yasuaki Hijioka, Myat S. Mon, Zhe Wang, Chao Fan. Assessing environmental impacts and change in Myanmar's mangrove ecosystem service value due to deforestation (2000–2014). Global Change Biology. 2018; 24 (11):5391-5410.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Soe W. Myint; Chuyuan Wang; Asif Ishtiaque; Toe T. Aung; Lucy Emerton; Makoto Ooba; Yasuaki Hijioka; Myat S. Mon; Zhe Wang; Chao Fan. 2018. "Assessing environmental impacts and change in Myanmar's mangrove ecosystem service value due to deforestation (2000–2014)." Global Change Biology 24, no. 11: 5391-5410.

Journal article
Published: 07 July 2018 in Sustainability
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The horizontal two-dimensional (2D) urban land use approach is not sufficient to trace rapid changes in urban environment. Hence, a three-dimensional (3D) approach that is different from the traditional geographical method is necessary to understand the mechanism of compound urban diversity. Using remote sensing data captured in 2010/2011 and geospatial tools and techniques, we quantified the urban volume (UV, consisting of urban built volume (UBV) and urban green volume (UGV)) and retrieved and mapped the land surface temperature (LST) of two cities in Japan (Tsukuba, a planned city, and Tsuchiura, a traditional city). We compared these two cities in terms of (1) UBV and UGV and their relationships with mean LST; and (2) the relationship of the UGV–UBV ratio with mean LST. Tsukuba had a total UBV of 74 million m3, while Tsuchiura had a total of 89 million m3. In terms of UGV, Tsukuba had a total of 52 million m3, while Tsuchiura had a total of 29 million m3. In both cities, UBV had a positive relationship with mean LST (Tsukuba: R2 = 0.31, p < 0.001; Tsuchiura: R2 = 0.42, p < 0.001), and UGV had a negative relationship with mean LST (Tsukuba: R2 = 0.53, p < 0.001; Tsuchiura: R2 = 0.19, p < 0.001). Tsukuba also had a higher UGV–UBV ratio of 54.9% in comparison with Tsuchiura, with 28.7%. Overall, the results indicate that mean LST was more intense in the traditional city (Tsuchiura). This could have been due to the difference in urban spatial structure. As a planned city, Tsukuba is still a relatively young city that has more dispersed green spaces and a well-spread (so far) built-up area.

ACS Style

Manjula Ranagalage; Ronald C. Estoque; Hepi H. Handayani; Xinmin Zhang; Takehiro Morimoto; Takeo Tadono; Yuji Murayama. Relation between Urban Volume and Land Surface Temperature: A Comparative Study of Planned and Traditional Cities in Japan. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2366 .

AMA Style

Manjula Ranagalage, Ronald C. Estoque, Hepi H. Handayani, Xinmin Zhang, Takehiro Morimoto, Takeo Tadono, Yuji Murayama. Relation between Urban Volume and Land Surface Temperature: A Comparative Study of Planned and Traditional Cities in Japan. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (7):2366.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Manjula Ranagalage; Ronald C. Estoque; Hepi H. Handayani; Xinmin Zhang; Takehiro Morimoto; Takeo Tadono; Yuji Murayama. 2018. "Relation between Urban Volume and Land Surface Temperature: A Comparative Study of Planned and Traditional Cities in Japan." Sustainability 10, no. 7: 2366.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2018 in International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
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This article compares and assesses eight remotely sensed maps of Philippine forest cover in the year 2010. We examined eight Forest versus Non-Forest maps reclassified from eight land cover products: the Philippine Land Cover, the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Land Cover, the Landsat Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF), the MODIS VCF, the MODIS Land Cover Type product (MCD12Q1), the Global Tree Canopy Cover, the ALOS-PALSAR Forest/Non-Forest Map, and the GlobeLand30. The reference data consisted of 9852 randomly distributed sample points interpreted from Google Earth. We created methods to assess the maps and their combinations. Results show that the percentage of the Philippines covered by forest ranges among the maps from a low of 23% for the Philippine Land Cover to a high of 67% for GlobeLand30. Landsat VCF estimates 36% forest cover, which is closest to the 37% estimate based on the reference data. The eight maps plus the reference data agree unanimously on 30% of the sample points, of which 11% are attributable to forest and 19% to non-forest. The overall disagreement between the reference data and Philippine Land Cover is 21%, which is the least among the eight Forest versus Non-Forest maps. About half of the 9852 points have a nested structure such that the forest in a given dataset is a subset of the forest in the datasets that have more forest than the given dataset. The variation among the maps regarding forest quantity and allocation relates to the combined effects of the various definitions of forest and classification errors. Scientists and policy makers must consider these insights when producing future forest cover maps and when establishing benchmarks for forest cover monitoring.

ACS Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Robert G. Pontius; Yuji Murayama; Hao Hou; Rajesh Bahadur Thapa; Rodel D. Lasco; Merlito A. Villar. Simultaneous comparison and assessment of eight remotely sensed maps of Philippine forests. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 2018, 67, 123 -134.

AMA Style

Ronald C. Estoque, Robert G. Pontius, Yuji Murayama, Hao Hou, Rajesh Bahadur Thapa, Rodel D. Lasco, Merlito A. Villar. Simultaneous comparison and assessment of eight remotely sensed maps of Philippine forests. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2018; 67 ():123-134.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ronald C. Estoque; Robert G. Pontius; Yuji Murayama; Hao Hou; Rajesh Bahadur Thapa; Rodel D. Lasco; Merlito A. Villar. 2018. "Simultaneous comparison and assessment of eight remotely sensed maps of Philippine forests." International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 67, no. : 123-134.