Analysis of the Concept of Environmental Carrying Capacity

From the concept of carrying capacity proposed in the early 20th century to as an important tool for describing development constraints in the 21st century,many scholars have conducted extensive and detailed research on carrying capacity at different levels,but the carrying capacity system has not yet formed a unified theoretical and methodological system.By summarizing and analyzing the existing literature,based on the viewpoints of Mr.Gao Jixi and Mr.Zeng Weihua,the relationship between different mainstream carrying capacities is analyzed,and finally a system for summarizing the elements of different carrying capacities is provided,which to some extent serves as a reference for scholars who have just come into contact with the concept of carrying capacity.It is thought that:①the research on ecological carrying capacity covers the scope of cities,and the research at the urban level complements the neglected and insufficient areas of ecological research.②The main difference among ecological carrying capacity,urban comprehensive carrying capacity and resource environment carrying capacity lies in the different research scopes.In the mainstream view,environmental carrying capacity and resource carrying capacity are summarized under the framework of different research scopes.Water environment carrying capacity,land resource carrying capacity and other single factor carrying capacity are special in-depth studies of environment and resource carrying capacity.③Ecological carrying capacity at the ecological level includes environmental carrying capacity and resource carrying capacity.At the urban level,urban ecology is equivalent to urban environment to a certain extent,and resources can be classified into urban environmental carrying capacity as an environmental element.

Exploring the Goal Synergy between the Ecological Carrying Capacity of Miyun District and the Development of the Ecological Home-stay Industry in Beijing

Green construction in culture and environmental protection will be the development trend in a long run,the urban and suburban area will be ecologically developed as well.Rural revitalization must adhere to the position of historical progress theory and modern concepts,innovate spatial layout,optimize ecological resources,and appropriately determine its historical significance and sustainable development responsibility with reasonable value orientation and environmental ecological carrying capacity for local ecological construction.In order to achieve this responsibility,the authors must expand the dimensions to consider more relevant factors.The guarantee of ecological carrying capacity is an important means to ensure the promotion of ecological civilization.This paper aims to integrate and regulate the goal synergy of the cultural development of the home-stay industry in Miyun District of Beijing by means of the innovative model of sustainable economic development of cultural ecology,ecological people,ecological health preservation and rich home-stay ecological elements.Assuming that the role of the former in promoting the latter can be expanded,then in the range of ecological and cultural towns(conceptual model)that maintain a certain tolerance of ecological carrying capacity,as a characteristic home-stay industry in Miyun,there will be some effective growth,so the integration and development of multiple cultural genes and elements must be the ecological and cultural town model under the enhanced multi-factor aggregation effect,(See the ecological environment carrying capacity development goal A:A=B12345+C1234567 later).This article will explain that the development goals of Miyun's ecological culture and the ecological homestay industry are coordinated,and the two are mutually raised in the same direction.

Quantitative Research on Ecological Compensation among Every City of Guangdong Province Based on Ecological Footprint and Ecological Carrying Capacity

Based on the relative theories and methods of ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity,and according to practical conditions of Guangdong Province,this paper tried to put forward the determinant standard for ecological compensation through calculating the ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of every city in Guangdong Province. The results indicated that the ecological footprint of each city was in the status of deficit and the deficit level decreased gradually from developed regions of Pearl River Delta to the outlying regions. The cities which belonged to development areas of Pearl River Delta needed to pay ecological compensation,such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen and so on. In contrast,the cities which accepted compensation were underdeveloped areas,such as Heyuan and Jieyuan and so on.

Dynamic Changes of Land Ecological Carrying Capacity Based on the Ecological Footprint——By the Case Study of Chengdu City

Chengdu City is in the period of rapid urbanization and industrialization, and the disturbance derived from human activities on environment is increasing remarkablely in recent 20 years. The pressure on environment, economy and population is also increasing and land use in Chengdu has changed enormously. As struc- ture and function of land ecological system change obviously, sustainable development of land productivity has been an important goal and strategic task from now on, and it is necessary to systematically research land ecological carrying capacity based on ecological footprint. The ecological footprint of Chengdu City in the past ten years was calculated and analyzed from the spatial and temporal aspects according to statistical data from 1998 to 2008, as per ecological footprint method, ecological carrying capacity and the GIS spatial analysis method, and regression analysis method. The ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity values from 2009 to 2019 in Chengdu City were predicted through calculation results in the past ten years. The results show that the ecological footprint and ecological deficit of land use from 1998 to 2008 increased in Chengdu City. The ecological deficit of land use within the city center was in high levels in the past ten years, and the ecological footprint kept raising, especially in areas, such as Shuangliu, Chongzhou, Qingyang among 9 city areas, 4 counties and 6 districts in Chengdu City. There is fanlike distribution of ecological deficit of land use. Analysis shows that the social and natural ecological system is uneven distribution, which is not in sustainable de- velopment situation. The results of the study show that the economic, social and natural ecological system in Chengdu City is not sustainable, and the ecological foot- print is uneven distribution. The analysis of the dynamic change of land ecological carrying capacity in Chengdu City is very important for city government in the pro- cess of the vigorous development in new Tianfu Xinqu, and redevelopment in the northern part of this city.

Ecological Carrying Capacity in Beijing Mountainous Areas——Taking Fangshan District as an Example

[Objective] The aim was to investigate ecological carrying capacity of Fangshan District in Beijing. [Method] Ecological footprint and carrying capacity of Fangshan District in 2007 and 2008 were analyzed with ecological footprint model and the difference between ecological footprint and carrying capacity there was con- cluded. Furthermore, an assessment was made on relation between Fangshan de- velopment with local ecological carrying capacity to evaluate sustainable development of Fangshan District. [Result] Fangshan District is of lightly ecological deficit; ecologi- cal footprint per capita in 2007-2008 was deficit and tended to expand. Two meth- ods are available to reduce ecological ：deficit, including reduction of ecological foot- print and increase of carrying capacity. In general, supply and demand of carrying capacity in Fangshan are better, though with some problems. It is necessary to fur- ther develop related industries to final eliminate ecological deficit in order to achieve ecological conservation-orientation and sustainable development of Fangshan District. [Conclusion] The research provides theoretical references for overall evaluation on eco- logical carrying capacity of Fangshan District.

Quantitative Appraisement on Ecological Carrying Capacity in Coastal Rapid Developing Region of Hainan Province

The ecological carrying capacity,an important indica- tor to evaluate the sustainable development of the ecosystem, means the potential ability of the natural ecosystem to carry so- cioeconomic development while the ecosystem is healthy.It is limited by the carrying capacity of natural resources and environ- ment and the elasticity of the ecosystem.It will be greatly signifi- cant to study the ecological carrying capacity of Hainan Province, the first ecological province admitted by the State Environmental Protection Administration in China.Not only is the natural eco- system reflected,but also the effects of human activities are em- phasized by integrating the ecosystem health analysis into the ecological carrying capacity research.The research results,using the Factor Analysis tools of software SPSS,indicate that the eco- logical carrying capacity of Hainan Province fluctuated obviously from 1996 to 2005.The level of the ecological carrying capacity of Hainan Province was relatively high in 1996,and reached into trough from 1997 to 1999.It has steadily ascended to be above the middle level since the 21st century.The results also show that policy factors,especially the implementation of the 'Ecological Province' strategy,were important driving forces to influence the ecological carrying capacity.With the population rapidly increas- ing,the land and water resources per capita have decreased quickly.The amount of the ecological carrying capacity was pro- moted remarkably by socioeconomic development especially economic growth and technology applications.All of these will provide useful suggestions to establish and enact regional devel- opment policies,especially for protecting and reconstructing the ecology and environment of Hainan Province.

Evaluation of Ecological Carrying Capacity of Henan Province under the Sustainable Development

Based on the overview of social economy of Henan Province,I probe into the concept and evaluation of ecological carrying capacity.By using the ecological footprint analysis and the data of various kinds of land supply of Henan Province from 2000 to 2008,the ecological carrying capacity of Henan Province is analyzed.It is unveiled that inharmonious population,natural resources and economic resources affect the efficiency of the sustainable development of ecological carrying capacity of Henan Province;the underdeveloped economy of Henan Province impacts the sustainable development of ecological carrying capacity of Henan Province and the overburdened population lead to the insufficiency of ecological carrying capacity.Around protecting the threshold of ecological system,the countermeasures are put forward,which cover forming the idea of ecological economy and circular economy and promoting the transformation of economy growth mode;taking the development road of using resources intensively and performing the strategy of sustainable utilization of resources;strictly control population growth and strengthening people's crisis awareness of resources and environment.

Ecological Carrying Capacity Prediction of Huainan City Based on GM–BP Neural Network

Evaluation of ecological carrying capacity is an important method of analyzing regional sustainable development, study on ecological carrying capacity is to settle the contradictions between resource and environment, and it is a significant basis for realizing regional sustainable development. This paper, on the basis of the academician Sun Tiehang's "unification of three" for the eco-city construction, established ecological carrying capacity evaluation indexes for the traditional industrial and mining city—Huainan City; and applied GM–BP neural network coupling model for the dynamic evolution and prediction of ecological carrying capacity of Huainan City in the future decade. The results showed that ecological carrying capacity index of Huainan would be 2.13 by 2025, higher than the loadable state 1, so the ecological carrying capacity would keep in the over-loaded level, but the over-loaded degree would be lower than the current. Carrying capacity of arable land, energy and water resources contribute greatly to the improvement of ecological carrying capacity, thus it is imperative to adjust this unreasonable and unsustainable ecological consumption relationship, enhance environmental protection awareness and high-efficiency utilization of resources, and take an energy-saving and intensive development path.

Ecological Carrying Capacity of Shennongjia Based on Sustainable Development

Ecological carrying capacity is a significant index for measuring sustainability of natural resources in a region. This paper applied ecological footprint counting model to calculate ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of the typical resource-based city—Shennongjia from 2008 to 2012. The results showed that(a) ecological footprint and per capita ecological footprint in Shennongjia area increased from 86,464.48 ha and 1.076 ha. in 2008 to 93,13.59 ha. and 1.171 ha. in 2012;(b) total ecological carrying capacity, and per capita ecological carrying capacity fluctuated, and total ecological carrying capacity > total ecological footprint, per capita ecological carrying capacity > total ecological footprint, thus it had ecological surplus;(c) among all land use types, water resources had the largest ecological surplus, construction land and woodland had the second and third largest; waters and fossil energy land showed ecological deficit and needed outer supply. As a whole, Shennongjia area had an excellent ecological environment with less destruction and good sustainability.

Assessment of Ecological Carrying Capacity of Guizhou Province

Using the data of biological resources and energy consumption from Guizhou Statistical Yearbook（2012）,ecological carrying capacity of Guizhou Province in 2012 was assessed based on the theory and calculation method of ecological carrying capacity.The results show that the regional carrying capacity of Guizhou Province is medium on the upper side,and the regional pressure is little in Guizhou Province.In 9 regions,the lowest carrying-pressure index is 0.43,and the highest one is already up to 1.53.Nevertheless,development of circular economy should be promoted to maintain sustainable development of Guizhou,protect existing ecological environment,and raise ecological carrying capacity.

Study on Ecological Carrying Capacity of Land in Henan Province

In order to explore the technical methods to improve the ecological carrying capacity of regional land under the premise of limited land use area,an open ecological footprint model is established based on the traditional ecological footprint model.Using the two models,this paper evaluates the ecological carrying capacity of Henan Province in 2017.The results indicate that the ecological productive footprint of cultivated land in Henan Province is much larger than the ecological carrying capacity,but the ecological consumption footprint is lower than the ecological carrying capacity.The open ecological footprint model can clearly distinguish the internal and the external ecological consumption footprint after corrected by the consumption adjustment coefficient and the land-use structure adjustment coefficient.Based on the open ecological footprint model,the ecological carrying capacity evaluation results of Henan Province are more realistic.The comprehensive ecological carrying capacity in Henan Province has a surplus,but there are significant differences among different land use types.The cultivated land has the largest ecological carrying capacity surplus,while the fossil energy land has a larger ecological carrying capacity deficit.In the process of achieving sustainable development,Henan Province should focus on reducing energy consumption and improving the ecological carrying capacity of fossil energy land.The paper concludes that the open ecological footprint model can simulate the ecological carrying capacity under different land use structures and different consumption structures.According to the simulation results,the technical methods to improve the ecological carrying capacity under the premise of limited land use scale can be proposed.The research can provide reference for land use structure adjustment,land use planning and land protection in Henan Province.It can also provide scientific basis for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin.

Water resource utilization characteristics and driving factors in the Hainan Island

The scarcity of water resources caused by the unique topography and uneven rainfall distribution in Hainan Island has become a major factor restricting local development. In order to provide effective and scientific reference basis for the overall water resource utilization status and solving this problem, this study calculated the water resource utilization situation of Hainan Island from 2017 to 2021 in detail using methods including water resource ecological footprint analysis. Furthermore, a spatial correlation analysis was conducted to examine the island's water resource utilization characteristics, and the driving factors behind the changes in water resource utilization over the past five years were analyzed using the LMDI model. The results show that:(1) During the study period, the water resource ecological footprint in Hainan Island exhibited a slow growth trend, while the ecological carrying capacity showed a downward tendency.The per capita ecological deficit of water resources remains relatively high, and the water consumption per 10 000 yuan GDP in the whole land continues to decrease, indicating that the overall pressure on water resource demand remains high with significant regional differences accompanied by the efficiency of water resource utilization steadily improving at the same time;(2) Agricultural water use accounts for the highest proportion in the entire water use structure, while ecological water use represents the smallest share, with a year-on-year increase, indicating that Hainan Island highlights the agricultural development and is increasingly conscious of the ecological environment;(3) Significant spatial differentiation in water resource utilization characteristics exists in Hainan Island, with the western region being a hot spot aggregation area for per capita water resource ecological footprint, per capita ecological carrying capacity of water resources, water consumption per 10 000 yuan GDP, while it is a cold spot cluster area for per capita ecological deficit of water resources. The opposite holds true for the eastern region of Hainan Island;(4) Economic and technological factors have a major impact on the changes in water resource ecological footprint within the designated area. Among them, economic factors drive the growth of the water resource ecological footprint in Hainan Island, and exacerbate local water resource consumption, while technological factors negatively contribute to the amount of water resource utilization in Hainan Island, indicating that advanced technology has improved water resource utilization efficiency and significantly reduced water resource consumption.

Energy-based marine ecological footprint in Shandong province, China

An energy-based ecological footprint model was set up to monitor the sustainable development status of a specific marine system. This model used unit energy value and energy density to convert the consumption into ecological productive areas. It can reflect the utilization degree of resources in the regional development. Then, the quantitative analysis of sustainable development was done by comparing the size of the areas. We defined the concept of energy-based ecological footprint of marine and built energy-based ecological footprint model of marine. Then we applied this model to marine ecological system of Shandong province to evaluate its sustainable development statue. The results showed that the energy-based marine ecological footprint of the marine ecological system in Shandong province was 1.74 × 106 hm^2 in 2010, and the energy-based ecological carrying capacity of this area was 1.60×107 hm^2 per capita. Thus, the marine ecological system of Shandong province has strong sustainability.

Ecological Footprint and Ecological Security Evaluation in the Upper Min River Basin

On the basis of the ecological footprint (EF) model, this paper studied theecological security in the Upper Min River Basin ecosystem. The result shows that with 2. 038 2 hm^2per capita ecological capacity (0. 422 2 hm^2 higher than per capita EF) ,and 165 825 hm^2 ecologysurplus , the ecosystem in Upper Min River is generally secure at present. But the arable land isoverweighed and omens an eco-security crisis. Meanwhile, problems such as low forest coverage rate,severe loss of water and soil,enlargement of arid-valley area, frequent occurrence of mountainhazards and degradation of pastures have been major threats to the eco-security of this region. Thecalculation result of ten-thousand-yuan ( RMB) GDP shows that the use of natural resources isextensive, and there will be a rapid increase tendency of EF in the future. In order to maintain thepresent eco-security, the ways of use natural resources must be improved in the Upper Min RiverBasin.

Spatio-temporal Pattern of Ecosystem Pressure in Countries Along the Belt and Road: Combining Remote Sensing Data and Statistical Data

Building a Green Silk Road by integrating the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) is one of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) visions, but the BRI faces enormous challenge that is the conflict between economic development and ecological sustainability.Understanding the current scale and trend of the impact of human activities on the ecosystem is the preliminary work to ensure that human activities do not exceed the ecological carrying capacity under the BRI. This study evaluated the ecosystem pressure in countries along the Belt and Road(B&R) from 2000–2017 based on the supply-consumption balance relationship of ecological resources. Net primary productivity(NPP) is taken as the measure of ecological resources, and the supply level and consumption intensity of ecological resources is estimated based on remote sensing data and statistical data, respectively. Results show that thirteen countries with overconsumed ecological resources concentrated in the West Asia/Middle East. Although the intensity of the ecological resource consumption correlated with ecological resource endowments, the ecosystem pressure was determined by social development dependence on the ecological resources at the same ecological resource endowments level. Nearly 80% of countries along the B&R suffered from significantly increased(P < 0.05) ecosystem pressure during 2000–2017, since most of the countries along the B&R were developing countries,and their economic development was highly dependent on ecological resources. Some West Asia/Middle East countries successfully mitigated the ecosystem pressure by importing feed for livestock. Likewise, the Southeast Asian islands benefitted from the import of agricultural products. The results highlight that the BRI should reduce the dependence of social development demands on local ecological resources by international trade for ensuring the increasing ecosystem pressure trend within the ecological carrying capacity.

Application of Ecological Footprint Method Based on Net Primary Productivity in Inner Mongolia

Using ecological footprint method based on net primary productivity （NPP）, the ecological footprint, ecological carrying capacity and ec- ological deficit/surplus in Inner Mongolia in 2005 and 2010 were calculated firstly, and then their temporal and spatial variations were analyzed. Fi- nally, the main driving factors of changes in the ecological footprint were discussed through linear regression analysis. The results show that the ec- ological footprint increased faster than the ecological carrying capacity in Inner Mongolia from 2005 to 2010, and Inner Mongolia was in ecological deficit on the whole. In addition, the ecological state became worse from the northeast to the southwest in Inner Mongolia, and the ecological state was the worst in Ordos City where the ecological deficit reached 0.9 km2/capita in 2010. As a result of increase of industrial intensity and unreason- able industrial structure, the sustainability in Inner Mongolia decreased.

Ecological footprint of food consumption in China:1982-2004

This paper calculates the land (including water area) requirement for food consumption in both balanced andactual diet in China by ecological footprint analysis. To determine whether logical and actual food demands are withinnatural regenerative ability, carrying capacity (excluding forestry production) is also calculated. Results show that actualdiet patterns were ecologically friendly in the period of 1982-2004 in China, mainly because of the rural moderate dietpatterns. But actual per capita footprint already overran its corresponding logic value of 0.976ha in urban areas in 2002.Productive areas for food production can satisfy the land requirement for actual diet patterns during the researchingperiod in China, nevertheless cannot satisfy that for balanced diet pattern or solve the problem of unbalanced ecologicalfootprint. The continual rising ecological footprint of food consumption in both rural and urban areas indicates that percapita footprint will keep on increasing in China and even may be more than the suggested logic value if no relevantcountermeasures are made to regulate diet patterns. Strictly speaking, China is facing food shortage, both in quality andin quantity.

Touristic Ecological Footprint of Jiufeng National Forest Park in Beijing Based on Component Method

This paper,based on the ecological footprint component method,calculated the touristic ecological footprint of Jiufeng National Forest Park in Beijing.The results showed that in 2013,in Jiufeng National Forest Park,the total touristic ecological footprint was 183.08 hm2,the total ecological capacity was 225.16 hm2,the total touristic ecological surplus was 42.07 hm2,and the average touristic ecological surplus was 0.000 4 hm2 per capita,indicating that tourism in Jiufeng National Forest Park was in ecological surplus and ecological security.However,forest parks in Beijing at large were in ecological deficit.This paper suggested that the tourist flow volume of forest parks with a big ecological deficit should be moved to forest parks with an ecological surplus.Besides,forest parks are expected to strengthen the development and management,improve the availability of forest recreation resource,and promote the environmental protection awareness of tourists,so as to boost the sustainable development of forest park tourism.

The Change of Ecological Footprint and Its Effect on Sustainable Development in Beijing of China

Speeding up the environmental protection and construction is one of the major issues in ＂Greener Olympic Games＂ held in Beijing in 2008. Making a thorough study to find out the reliable measures to ecological resumption in Beijing has an important scientific and practical significance. It can provide scientific basis for making a better decision for ＂Greener Olympic Games＂ held in capital Beijing and development in harmony for society and economy, as well as management for ecological environment. By studying of change of ecological footprint from 1990 to 2003 in Beijing, the paper shows that ecological footprint per capita has a strong relativity with population and GDP, and both of the correlation coefficient between them is about 0.92, as well as the fossil energy land has a position in the lead in ecological footprint items. The study also shows that the ecological capacity per capita in Beijing occupied about 1.25% in global ecological capacity per capita. Began 1990, the ecological deficit in Beijing was about 0.72 hm2, which is at strong unsustainable development at present. Finally, the paper suggests social and economic structure should be adjusted as soon as possible, resources should be strengthen sustainable used and population increasing should be controlled strictly, as well as arable land also should be under control used for built-up areas. Simultaneity, the utilizing ratio of energy sources should be increased, and the consumption of energy sources and ecological deficit in Beijing should be reduced in order to speed up the society and economy development in harmony and sustainment.

Research Progress in Ecological Carrying Capacity: Implications, Assessment Methods and Current Focus

In recent years, rapid global urbanization accompanied by rapid economic growth has resulted in increasingly serious eco-environmental problems such as land degradation and pollution. As a society, we are gradually realizing the role of environmental protection and ecologically-focused construction in promoting sustainable development. As an important method for assessing sustainable development, ecological carrying capacity（ECC） has become a powerful tool for investigating sustainable development and assessing eco-environmental problems. Based on results from a large number of previous studies in this discipline, we summarized and generalized the implications, main assessment methods, and key research domains of ECC. Deficiencies and future trends in ECC research are identified. In terms of implications, ECC can be roughly defined into the perspectives of environmental change, human effects on ecological systems, and holistic ecological systems. The primary assessment methods and models can be classified in accordance with these three perspectives, including ecological footprint method, ecosystem-services-based method, net primary productivity method, situation space method, energetic ecological footprint model, system dynamics model, and coupling model. We compared the advantages and disadvantage of different methods and analyzed their applicable conditions. As ECC research has advanced, related studies have gradually extend to land systems, watershed systems, ecologically vulnerable areas, tourism systems, and urban comprehensive systems, which have solved relevant eco-environmental problems based on ECC assessments. Currently, ECC research lacks a standard definition for the ECC index threshold, research related to dynamic monitoring and early warning, sufficient consideration of scientific and technological drivers, and spatial pattern analyses. Future trends in ECC-related research should provide a large-scale assessment of cross-border areas and ecological vulnerable areas, construct an ecological warning platform, and consistently analyze ECC and regional leading industries.