Local Values Due to Geothermal Development Progress: an Ecosystem Services Mapping Approach

Abstract

The Patuha geothermal area located in the agroforestry region of Patuha Mountain at 50 kilometers southwest of Bandung City on West Java, Indonesia. Geothermal development in The Patuha area will have an impact on the environment and the landscape around it. The impact will also affect the services provided by nature. The services provided by nature have their uniqueness in various places, this is due to the availability of services and the habits or culture of the people. Mapping the ecosystem services of the agroforestry region surrounding The Patuha geothermal area can provide an overview of what ecosystem services can be affected by geothermal development. The ecosystem of The Patuha geothermal area is mountain ecosystem where the surrounding is designated and utilized as an area for forestry, plantation, agriculture, and tourism. In this paper, we mapped three categories of ecosystem services (provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services) that are benefiting the people in The Patuha Mountain. The existence of geothermal infrastructures such as road access and high voltage power line footprint was found to have a contribution in affecting how the people are benefiting the ecosystem services. The results show that the proposed approach can be used to identify the impacts of geothermal development on the ecosystem services in a spatially explicit manner.