Ecosystem Services in the Riverine Landscapes

Every ecosystem existing on the earth’s surface has been providing numerous services to people in different ways like provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting. The benefits obtained from nature are called ecosystem services. These services have been responsible for the survival of each living being on the planet. River ecosystems and landscapes have been integral to human civilization since antiquity. Riverine landscapes are diverse in the natural world and offer a variety of services to humankind. The recently deposited alluvium after the flood provides fertile ground for farming. Riverine landscapes deliver several provisioning services like fishing, medicines, drinking water, irrigation water, and hydropower. These services sustain the food, water and energy needs of local people. Important regulating services of the riverine landscapes include flood regulation, water purification, groundwater recharge, and climate regulation. Cultural services of riverine landscapes include recreation, tourism, aesthetic value, education value, and spiritual and religious value. Riverine landscapes also provide supporting services like habitat provision, nutrient cycling and water cycling. The quantification and valuation of all these services are very crucial at the present time. There are various approaches that can be used to value these riverine ecosystem services like biophysical quantification, socio-cultural assessment and monetary evaluation. Several models have also been used for ecosystem services assessment such as InVEST, ARIES and SWAT. In the current scenario, economic valuation of riverine ecosystem services is crucially important in sustainable planning for the conservation and management of riverine landscapes and their natural and cultural resources. The present book chapter provides an introduction to the various ecosystem services that riverine landscapes supply. Further various approaches to their assessment including models and tools have also been discussed. The given insight in this chapter would be playing a major role in research and management of multiple ecosystem services generated in riverline landscapes.