ECOSYSTEM HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF THE KARST LANDSCAPE OF BORACAY ISLAND BASED ON SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHANGES OF LANDSCAPE

Abstract

Assessment of ecosystem health, especially in fragile and vulnerable environment, such as that of karst landscapes is essential in protecting these landscapes. This provides an indispensable reference in the formulation of a more appropriate protection policies in order to maintain healthy ecosystems or reverse those that have unhealthy levels of ecosystem health. This study assessed the spatial and temporal changes of the ecosystem health of Boracay through remote sensing images, such as that of Landsat developed by NASA and USGS, using the parameters of VOR framework developed by Costanza (1992), such as ecosystem vigor, ecosystem organization, and ecosystem resilience. The results show that the ecosystem health of Boracay Island declined over time, from 1989 to 2020. The ecosystem health evolved from suboptimal healthy landscape in 1989 for the three barangays of the island to average health up to a degraded landscape in 2020. The level of ecosystem health relates to the effects of development due to tourism growth in the island wherein less fragmented, more aggregated, less complex portions have an average healthy ecosystem at 2020 while the portions that are highly fragmented, less aggregated, more complex and sprawled by development corresponds to unhealthy to degraded level of ecosystem health. This study provides a cost-effective, scientific basis in the assessment and even monitoring of ecosystem health for environmental managers and local government units in the formulation of sustainable management policies and activities of other tourism sites in the country.