Water-Regulating Ecosystem Services (WRES) play a crucial role in maintaining water quality and preventing soil erosion, particularly in watershed areas that are vulnerable to Land Use Land Cover Changes (LULCC) and climate change. This study focuses on the Upper Beht Watershed, the most ecologically significant basin of the Ifrane National Park (INP). The main objective is to understand how WRES values respond to the challenges posed by grasslands degradation, agricultural intensification, and urban expansion before and after the park's creation. In this research, we first analyzed historical Land Use Land Cover (LULC) data from 1992 to 2022 using Google Earth Engine platform. We then employed the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST 3.10.2) models to quantify and map the impacts of ongoing LULCC on the watershed's capacity to retain sediments and nutrients. Finally, we used the damage costs avoided method for economic assessment of WRES. Our findings demonstrate a notable improvement in the economic value of WRES following the establishment of the park, reaching USD 10,000 per year. In contrast, prior to its creation, this service experienced a decline of USD -7000 per year. This positive trend can be attributed to the expansion of forest cover in areas prioritized for reforestation and conservation interventions. The study highlights the critical importance of continuous WRES monitoring, providing park managers with robust data to advocate for sustained conservation efforts and increased investment in restoration initiatives within protected areas. Moreover, the findings can be used to raise awareness among local communities and encourage their active engagement in sustainable development initiatives.

The identification of areas prone to soil erosion in ungauged river basins is crucial for timely preventive measures, as erosion causes significant damage by lowering soil productivity and filling reservoirs with sedimentation. This study proposes a novel approach to prioritize sub-watersheds (SWs) in Ponnaniyar river basin. It utilizes different combinations of five objective-based weighting methods and seven Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques under outranking and synthesis methods with soil loss, morphometry, land use/land cover (LULC), and topography parameters. The results obtained from different hybrid models are validated using metrics like percentage and intensity of change. The findings reveal that MW-PROMETHEE (53.85%) and CRITIC-WASPAS (8.31) perform best in prioritizing areas based on morphometry, while CRITIC-TOPSIS (48.35% and 7.58) is more effective in prioritizing areas based on land use/land cover (LULC) and topography. The grade average method is used to integrate the rankings from 71 models: 35 based on morphometry, 35 based on LULC, and 1 based on the RUSLE model. The analysis identifies SW2 with a grade value of 4.34 as severely affected by soil erosion, followed by SW11 (5.45), SW5 (5.56), and SW9 (5.68), all falling within the very high priority level. This study recommends implementing appropriate water harvesting structures, which might be helpful in mitigating soil degradation, promoting soil conservation, and ensuring sustainable agricultural productivity.

The Kaxgar River Basin, a key of the Tarim River Basin, is a typical ecologically fragile region that has undergone rapid changes to its spatial patterns over the preceding few decades. In particular, the expansion of salinized land has posed a severe threat to ecological restoration and economic development. This study monitored the rates and patterns of land use and land cover (LULC) changes in the plain area of Aketao County in the middle reaches of the Kaxgar River Basin. Five Landsat images (captured in 1990, 1998, 2002, 2013, and 2018) were divided into seven LULC types: built-up land, cultivated land, woodland and grassland, light-moderate salinized land, heavy salinized land, water areas, and bare land. Subsequently, their dynamic processes were analyzed. The results revealed that in 1990, the dominant LULCs were cultivated land, woodland and grassland, and bare land. Throughout the study period (from 1990 to 2018), the coverage of built-up land, cultivated land, bare land, water areas, and light-moderate salinized land increased; by contrast, that of the other LULC types decreased. The most marked LULC changes were the expansion of light-moderate salinized land (by 6.2% of the study area) and the shrinkage of woodland and grassland (by 9.4% of the study area). Almost all the analyzed LULC types underwent conversion to other types; such conversion occurred most frequently between 1998 and 2018. The conversions of woodland and grassland into cultivated land and light-moderate salinized land were the most notable phenomena. Another highly evident change was the conversion of heavy salinized land into bare land. These results revealed that the expansion of salinized land and the shrinkage of woodland and grassland in the study area were the most severe environmental changes. Therefore, ecological protection and salinization control are urgently required to enable local economic development while not exceeding the environmental carrying capacity and ensuring the safety of the green corridor in the lower reaches of the Kaxgar River Basin.