Ecosystem service value in the context of urbanization: Comparison among economic-social regions of Vietnam

Urbanization is one of the important features of socio-economic development and it has a major impact on the value of ecosystem services (ESV). This study aims to quantify ESV for the entire country of Vietnam with the research unit being 6 socio-economic regions. This can be considered the first study in Vietnam to quantify the ESV for the entire country. The study calculated the annual urban land growth index (AI) and the annual urban land expansion rate (AER) to determine the urbanization status in the six study areas. The study collected input data from JAXA for four years: 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. Research results show that urban land area tended to increase and forest land area decreased sharply. The AI and AER indicated that the period 2000-2010 was a period of rapid growth in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the ESV for all of Vietnam increased year by year. The period 2000-2010 witnessed a growth in ESV about 2.35 times higher than the period 1990-2000, and about 0.1 % lower than the period 2010-2020. Overall, MKD was the region showing strong growth in ESV from 1990 to 2020. Compared to that, NMR was the region with the largest decline in the 20 years from 1990 to 2010, and CHR in the past 10 years. This research contributes to enriching reference sources for Vietnamese and world researchers to have a broader view of ESV as well as the annual urban growth rate in Vietnam from 1990 to 2020.