Land use and land cover (LULC) play a significant role in carbon regulation. South-China accounts for ~65% of China’s carbon sink. In Xishuangbanna (South-China), rubber is expanding rapidly creating an urgent need to understand and monitor LULC change and how spatial variation affects carbon storage (CS). This is vital for the formation and implementation of better land use management practices. We studied LULC changes of 22-year period; addressing how these changes have affected the CS. We quantified LULC changes between1988 and 2010 using remote sensing methods and calculated CS changes using InvEST. Results showed that between 1988 and 2010, the rate of deforestation accelerated to 203.2 km ² y ⁻¹ and ~23% of forest were lost. Conversion of natural forest to rubber was responsible for 78% of this deforestation. Rubber expansion rate was 153.4 km ² y ⁻¹ . Changes to LULC drove a temporal CS reduction 0.223 Tg C/km ² . Local stakeholders have strong economic interest in converting land to more profitable plantations. Government efforts is required to control land conversion through new policies and incentives to retain natural forest. Assessment of specific potential land use change will be required to avoid promoting the conversion of high carbon storage land uses to low carbon storage land uses.

Sri Lanka is an island nation where ~59% of the population live in coastal regions. The main income source in these areas is fishing, which contributes to ~44% of the national GDP. Fishery resources depend on mangroves, especially in estuaries and lagoons, as mangroves provide the best nursery grounds for both brackish and marine species that are significant for the island’s fishing industry. However, growing pressures from an increasing population and development are causing substantial damage to mangroves resulting in loss of mangrove diversity. We analyzed whether variation in mangrove diversity within a lagoon system affects fishery production and livelihoods. Along the lagoon we selected three sites, which were 5 km apart from each other, for the survey. We used three 50 m long transects at each site for faunal and floral diversity assessments. The fishery catch was recorded from three crafts in each side. The socio-economic survey was conducted in 30 households per site using a standard questionnaire. In the site with the highest floral and faunal diversity, we also recorded the highest fish catch, but not the highest crab or shrimp catches. Our results confirm that higher mangrove diversity—and not just area—supports higher income generation. Thus, future development should prioritize biodiversity conservation in coastal regions.

Tropical island countries are often highly populated and deliver immense ecosystem service benefits. As human wellbeing depends on these ecosystems, proper management is crucial in the resource-rich tropical lands where there is less related research. Though ecosystem service and biodiversity studies are a promising path to inform the ecosystem management for these mostly developing countries, published evidence of using ecosystem service studies in decision making is lacking. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of ecosystem services and related research in Sri Lanka, examining trends and gaps in how these studies are conceptualized. Out of the considered 220 peer-reviewed articles, the majority of articles (48.2%) were terrestrial and forest related while coastal ecosystems were considered in 33.2% of studies. In most studies, the ecosystem service category studied was provisioning (31.5%) followed by regulatory service (28.7%). Studies investigating and quantifying ecosystem services, pressures on ecosystems, and their management were fewer compared to studies related to biodiversity or species introduction. Moreover, studies investigating the value of ecosystem services and biodiversity to the communities or involvement of stakeholders in the development of management actions regarding the ecosystem services were rare in Sri Lanka, and an intense focus from future studies in these aspects is timely and necessary.