Changes in land use waves and ecosystem service values in Vietnam: research in the Northern midlands and mountainous regions (NMR) from 1990 to 2020

Abstract Land use is increasingly influencing ecosystem services (ES) in Vietnam. However, in Vietnam, there have not been many studies addressing the quantification of ecosystem service values (ESV) as well as the relationship between land use conversion and ES from a spatial perspective. This study seeks to address this deficiency by analyzing the land use changes (LUC) and the ESV in 14 provinces within Vietnam’s NMR The study used several indicators to assess LUC. These indicators include S (dynamic index of a given land-use category), I (integrated land-use level), LUI (land-use intensity), LUM (mixed land-use entropy index), and LUD (land-use diversity). Furthermore, the study considers the ESV aver (average ecosystem service value) index. The research findings indicate that the shrub underwent the most significant changes in nearly every stage across all 14 localities. With the LUI index, the period 1990–1995 shows that there are localities with the highest level of adaptation, with adaptation levels ranging from 4.15 to 8.74 in three western provinces of the region. The LUD and LUM indexes reveal a high level of complexity in land use types during the periods 2000–2005 and 2015–2020. This shows that the level of diversity in land use in most localities is increasing day by day. Meanwhile, in the NMR region, the ESV shows a slight increase in the first 5 years of study, followed by a series of gradual decreases until 2020, to 67,647.56 million USD/year. During its initial rise, the ESV aver index exhibited a similar trend. From 1995 to 2005, it dropped sharply. The results of this study will enable researchers and decision-makers to formulate effective policies in the future.