Abstract:
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world having an area of 1, 47,570 square kilometers. About 1063 people live per sq. km in Bangladesh. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the number of population in Bangladesh was 76.4 million in 1974, which increased to 149.78 million in 2011 and 150.99 million in 2016. The stress exerted by this huge population to our small land area is tremendous. As a consequence land use pattern showed a notable conversion through this period. Barisal Sadar Upazila not only the central part of Barisal District but also a key point for entire southern part of Bangladesh, is also affected by this land use change. In this research, land use change of Barisal Sadar Upazila have been analyzed using Landsat satellite image from 1980 to 2010 with 10 years interval with ILWIS version 3.7.2, a windows base open source software and its impact on ecosystem services have determined with the help of secondary data and a questionnaire survey. In Barisal Sadar Upazila, Agricultural area decreased from 125.08 sq. km to 87.86 sq. km; Wetlands decreased from 24.69 sq. km to 13.02 sq. km; Water body decreased from 34.19 sq. km to 32.05 sq. km during 1980 to 2010 period. On the contrary, Urban area increased from 14.33 sq. km to 43.15 sq. km, which is more than three times of its original area and rural area increased from 95.6 sq. km to 117.80 sq. km during 1980 to 2010. These land use change put a significant impact on various ecosystem services which is a huge concern in present situation. Due to the reduction of agricultural area and water body, several provisioning services such as production of rice, captured fisheries and livestock are decreasing and so is the area used for these production. For maximum productivity within minimum area, farmers are using hybrid seeds, different types of pesticides and chemical fertilizers; which destroyed the natural ecosystem. Natural fish production and number of domestic animal reduced dangerously. Besides, increase in urban and rural area helps to improve educational, recreational and communication facilities of Barisal Sadar Upazila. It also affects the livelihood off the community. Many people are living fishing and agricultural profession for private and public services and entrepreneurships such as auto rickshaw driver, shopkeepers, saw miller, small businessman. Sometime these changes brought economic solvency, better educational, medical and transportation facilities and improve the life style of the local community. But it affects the various ecosystem services adversely and some of the damages are not recoverable. For a sustainable development, district and upazila land use management strategy should be taken up in order to enhance the ecosystem services. As well as local people need to be aware in this regard.
