Evaluation of Ecological Sustainable Development in the Yangtze River Delta Region Based on Ecological Footprint Theory

The ecological footprint was employed as a quantitative indicator of resource inputs,enabling a detailed account of the structure of biological resources and energy occupancy,as well as the variation of resource productivity in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD)Region.From 2004 to 2018,there were notable variations in the ecological productivity of different types of land on basis of China’s equilibrium factor across the three provinces and one city in the YRD region.Jiangsu Province exhibited the highest ecological productivity of arable land,while Anhui Province exhibited the highest ecological productivity of forest land.Shanghai City exhibited the highest ecological productivity of pasture land,while Zhejiang Province exhibited the highest ecological productivity of water area.In 2018,the proportion of arable land within the total ecological carrying capacity of the YRD region reached 74.35%.Furthermore,the contribution of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces to the YRD’s total ecological carrying capacity was 41.36%and 41.26%,respectively.In the construction of a new development pattern in the YRD region,which is dominated by the domestic cycle as the main body and mutually reinforced by domestic and international double-cycle,the YRD region should combine the utilization of natural forces with innovation in science,technology and cooperation mechanisms.Furthermore,the government should guide the concentration of social capital towards green industries.It is also recommended that the moderate reduction of ecological footprints should be encouraged,and that the security of biological resources and energy,the leadership in the field of cutting-edge science and technology should be ensured in YRD region.This will facilitate the formation of a new development pattern of higher-quality integration at the national level firstly.

Consumptive ecological footprint and productive ecological footprint: a modification on ecological footprint theory to evaluate regional sustainable development

Ecological footprint theory and its application achievements in global and regional sustainable development systems are studied by consulting the published literature, which finds that the application of ecological footprint theory to regional sustainability evaluation has leaded to a perplexity that the indicated result was inconsistent with the philosophy of sustainable development theory. Illuminated by the mechanical system of the movement of matters, it comes up that ecological footprint based on consumption of biologic production could not tell whether the ecological pressure acts on the specified region, and the original ecological footprint theory also undervalued the development impartiality of a region. A modification on this theory is made by introducing consumptive ecological footprint and productive ecological footprint, in which the latter is taken as the indicator of regional sustainability. The development impartiality can be demonstrated by comparison between the global ecological deficit per capita and regional consumptive ecological deficit per capita.

Impact of livelihood diversification of rural households on their ecological footprint in agro-pastoral areas of northern China

Human-environment relationship is a focus of academic researches and an understanding of the rela- tionship is important for making effective policies and decisions. In this study, based on rural household survey data of Taibus Banner, Duolun county and Zhengxiangbai Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China, we identified the impact of livelihood diversification on ecosystems in these agro-pastoral areas by using the ecological footprint theory and methodology together with the one-way analysis of variance （ANOVA） and correlation analysis methods. In 2011, the total ecological footprint of consumption （EFC） was 0.665 g hm2, and the total ecological footprint of production （EFP） was 2.045 g hm2, which was more than three times the EFC. The ecological footprint of arable land consumption （EFAC） accounted for a large proportion of the EFC, and the ecological footprint of grassland production （EFGP） occupied a large proportion of the EFP. Both the ecological footprint of grassland consumption （EFGC） and EFGP had a significant positive correlation with the income, indicating that income was mainly depended on livestock production and the households with higher incomes consumed more livestock prod- ucts. The full-time farming households （FTFHs） had the highest EFP, ecological footprint of arable land production （EFAP）, EFGP and EFGC, followed by the part-time farming households （PTFHs） and non-farming households （NFHs）, which indicated that part-time farming and non-farming employment reduced the occupancy and con- sumption of rural households on local ecosystems and natural resources to some extent. When farming households engaged in livestock rearing, both the EFAP and EFAC became smaller, while the EFP, EFC, EFGC and EFGP increased significantly. The differences in ecological footprints among different household groups should be taken into account when making ecosystem conservation policies. Encouraging the laborers who have the advantages of participating in non-farming employment to move out of the rural areas and increasing the diversification of liveli- hoods of rural households are important in reducing the environmental pressures and improving the welfare of households in the study area. Moreover, grassland should be utilized more effectively in the future.

Change of Ecological Footprint and Analysis of Ecological Sustainability——Taking Zhangjiakou City as an Example

This paper researches the ecological sustainability of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, China, using the ecological footprint model. According to the study we find that Zhangjiakou City was in the situation of ecological deficit from 1990 to 2000 and the deficit had the enlarging tendency. In 1990 the per capita ecological footprint was 0.964 and the per capita ecological capacity was 0.5 l 8, thus it can be calculated that the per capita ecological deficit was 4）.446. However in 2000, the per capita ecological footprint increased to 1.068, at the same time the per capita eco- logical capacity decreased to 0.471, then the per capita ecological deficit in 2000 was 4）.597. Furthermore, this paper studies the ecological sustainability of the city from the changes of the ecological footprint of per 10,000 yuan GDP and the productivity of ecological system. Finally the authors point out the shortage of the model and the way to improve it.

Ecological Carrying Capacity of Tibet China ——Variety of Ecological Footprints from 1978 to 2002

Ecological footprint's theory and method are used to calculate and analysisthe ecological carrying capacity in Tibet. The results indicate: Tibet ecological footprint (2.1hm^2) keeps higher than countrywide average level (1.5 hm^2), and lower than global average level(2.4 hm^2); the result show that Tibet pasture ecological footprint is the most different with otherarea, and woodland is the second; Tibet ecological footprint grows from 1. 25 hm^2 in 1978 to 2.09hm^2 in 2002, which states that life level is improving continuously; GDP (per RMB 10~4 Yuan)ecological footprint reduces from 61. 9 hm^2 in 1978 to 4. 54 hm^2 in 2002, which states resourcesutilized ratio is increasing continuously.

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.

National Ecological Deficit Accounting of China with Detailed Ecological Footprint

Ecological footprint is a new method to assess sustainable development quantitatively. It translates production into biologically productive areas offering material flows to measure the utilized degree of nature by humankind. At present, China runs ecological deficits because footprints required for consumption are larger than available ones. In the paper, the ecological footprint model is applied to calculate the deficits by resource, environment and import-export accounting. It is clear that the deficits have caused enormous pressure to resource and environment, which would become bigger with more factors of resource and environment being accounted. In the primary production and energy trade, import footprint turned from deficit to surplus after 1996, which benefited the conservation of national resource. But compared with the huge depletion caused by resource and environment, they had small effects on deficits.

Application of ecological footprint in ecological industrial systems:a study case of maize-MSG production systems

To improve the comparability of the research results of ecological industry, the ecological footprint is appliedto analyze the resource utilization and environmental pollution in various subsystems, taking maize-MSG as a case.Results show that the production process from maize to MSG is a extended process of ecological footprint, and that theecological footprint of the maize production is the biggest; the extension of ecological footprint is followed by the increaseof footprint profit, which means that the extension of production chain is an important method to improve the resourcesprofit; the systems have a big proportion of the indirect energy ecological footprint; the air and water pollution in MSGsubsystem is the most serious. At last, it can be identified that ecological footprint is a good method to measure resourceutilization and environmental pollution in various subsystems of an integrated ecological industry.

Reduced Ecological Footprints of Modern Facilities Introducing the Implementation of Advanced Wireless Technologies, and Human Resources’ Benefits

The necessity of lowering the mean power consumption of various facilities, due to the lack of their enormous future energy needs, led to an ongoing advance of various technologies. These technologies have been oriented towards the concept of a Reduced Ecological Footprint. Massive structures (such as building complexes and hospitals) have been redesigned and upgraded;many interior designs have been dramatically altered while new electronic devices are constantly being produced in order to revolutionize a long term perspective towards a “Green Planet” while they exhibit astonishing signal processing. Consequently, an enormous technology already exists which needs to be properly combined to a proposed methodology and to new ideas relevant to systems’ administration through automatic wireless control. This paper intends to reduce the gap between design and realization of the aforementioned research. Consequently, the primary contribution of this research is the proposal of a complete design protocol with minimized defects relevant to Reduced Ecological Footprints of Facilities (REFF) along with its beneficial advantages relevant to providing a healthy and productive work environment. This protocol consists of four main parts which are 1) the main key points-guidelines, 2) its objectives, 3) the know-how methodology for implementation in existing installations and 4) the description of the imminent benefits in workforce/human resources.

Incorporating carbon sink of harvested wood products into ecological footprint accounting:model and case study

Ecological footprint(EF)accounting system is widely used in assessing environmental sustainability at various spatial scales.To improve the EF performance,a new EF calculation framework was established in this study,in which HWP is considered as carbon sinks and the model was then applied to the Yangtze River basin of China.Results showed that(1)carbon sink in the basin is about 2.99 Tg per year and it varies substantially across subbasins,which has a nonlinear relationship with net primary productivity;(2)available biocapacity calculated in the whole basin increases from 0.5068 to 0.5759 national ha(nha)per capita when incorporating the carbon sinks.In a few subbasins,the added biocapacity is even larger than the biocapacity estimated from the conventional approach;(3)the EF of the basin is 5.598 nha per capita and it is much larger than its biological carrying capacity(BC),indicating that ecological deficit is ubiquitous across the basin.If carbon sinks are considered,the ecological deficit would decrease by 3.2–14.3%for different regions in the basin.It is necessary to incorporate HWP and other potential terrestrial carbon sinks in the EF accounting,and more efforts are needed in improving carbon sink accuracy.

The calculation of equivalence factor for ecological footprints in China： a methodological note

The Ecological Footprint （EF）, a physical indicator to measure the extent of humanity＇s use of natural resources, has gained much attention since it was first used by Wackemagel and Rees in 1996. In order to appraise land area types with different levels of productiv- ity, they introduced the concept of an equivalence factor. This relates to the average primary biomass productivities of different types of land （i.e. arable land, pasture, forest, water/fishery, built-up land and fossil energy land） to the regional average primary biomass productivity of all land types in a given year. Hence, the equivalence factor is an important parameter in the EF model and it directly affects the reliability of all results. Thus, this article calculates equivalence factors on the national and provincial levels in China based on Net Primary Production （NPP） from MODIS 1 km data in 2008. Firstly, based on the Light Utility Efficiency and CASA model, the NPP of different biologically productive lands of China and of different provinces was calculated. Secondly, China＇s equivalence factor for 6 land area types was calculated based on NPP： arable land and built-up land has an equivalence factor of 1.71, forest and fossil energy land has a factor of 1.41, pasture has a factor of 0.44 and water/fishery 0.35; Finally, the equivalence factor of 6 land area types in different provinces was also calculated. The NPP of each ecosystem type varies along with the equivalence factor in different provinces. However, the ranking of the equivalence factors in different provinces remain the same, with that of arable land being the largest, and the water/fishery being the smallest.

数字经济提升了生态效率吗?——基于生态足迹的实证检验

实现可持续发展需要提高生态效率,即以最少的资源占用实现最大的经济产出。数字经济具有较高的经济效率和较强的绿色属性,可以在增加经济产出的同时减少资源占用,从而提高生态效率。采用2011—2019年30个省份的面板数据,以人均GDP与人均生态足迹之比测度生态效率,分析发现:数字经济显著提升了生态效率,生产效率和产业结构在其中发挥了部分中介作用,即数字经济能够通过提高生产效率和促进产业结构升级来提升生态效率;数字经济对生态效率的影响具有非线性特征(门槛效应),表现为随着数字经济发展水平和生产效率的提高而增强;数字经济对生态效率的影响存在地区和时间异质性,表现为对资源型地区的影响较小、在推进“数字中国”建设后(2015年之后)影响较大。此外,数字经济对生态效率的提升作用主要源自促进人均GDP增长,但当数字经济发展水平较高时,其抑制人均生态足迹增加的作用也开始显现。因此,应积极推动数字经济发展,并重视和增强数字经济在减少资源占用和环境污染方面的功效,以更有效地提高生态效率。

黑龙江省大豆生产的碳足迹时空分布特征及生态优化研究

选取我国大豆主产区黑龙江省为研究区,采用生命周期评价(LCA)法核算该地区2011—2020年大豆生产的碳足迹,分析其时空分布特征,利用灰色关联分析法分析全省各地级市(地区)大豆生产碳足迹的影响因素,确定其碳排放的主要来源,提出大豆生产的生态优化方案。结果表明:2011—2020年黑龙江省大豆生产碳足迹平均值为0.337 kg/kg(以CO 2当量计),整体呈现反复波动、“北多南少”的格局;在所选的9个黑龙江省大豆生产碳足迹影响因素中,农药、种子、柴油3个因素的贡献度最大。

转变草原畜牧业生产方式的地方实践与政策建议

转变草原畜牧业生产方式,保护草原生态环境,是美丽中国建设在草原牧区的具体实践。在国家政策引导下,各地积极探索了草原畜牧业生产方式转变的实现路径。本文以内蒙古自治区阿鲁科尔沁旗为案例,调研发现,阿鲁科尔沁旗着力培育新型牧业经营主体、发展畜牧业社会化服务、探索建立激励约束措施,有力推动了草原畜牧业生产方式向舍饲圈养的转变。然而,土地资源约束、牧民老龄化、资金保障力度不够、畜牧业保险不完善、生态补偿标准过低已成为主要制约障碍。鉴于此,应从建立市场导向的政策体系、完善政府主导的保障机制、加强配套政策的有效衔接等方面寻找改革的突破口,实现草原生态保护和畜牧业发展双赢。

基于生态足迹法的山东省农产品结构优化研究

生态保护和农业发展是辩证统一关系,为实现山东省农产品结构优化,利用生态足迹法构建2020年山东省主要农产品的生态足迹结构模型,研究发现,山东省主要农产品产值足迹有明显分类,其中蔬菜、水产品、烟叶等产值足迹值较小且生态经济综合效益较高;小麦、猪肉等生态经济综合效益一般,生产用地占比大;牛羊肉等产值足迹最大,生态经济综合效益较低。因此,山东省应通过选育良种、加强耕地综合治理、提高海洋生态环境承载力、鼓励林地农业结构升级和农产品科技创新等一系列举措优化农产品结构,实现经济和生态协调发展。

基于耕地“三生”功能的耕地生态供需差异研究——以吉林省辽河流域为例

[目的]探究耕地生态供需差异特征,为有效保障耕地生态功能的持续供给,维护区域粮食安全和生态安全提供理论支持。[方法]以吉林省辽河流域为例,基于耕地“三生”功能,综合耕地生产性足迹、生活性足迹和生态性足迹,改进生态足迹模型,明确研究区耕地生态供需差异。[结果]①辽河流域耕地生产性足迹、生活性足迹和生态性足迹差异较大,其中,耕地生活性足迹最大,生态性足迹最小。②辽河流域耕地利用处于显著的生态盈余状态,整体表现为“县(市)盈余,区赤字”的特征,造成耕地生态赤字的原因为耕地的生产性赤字。③辽河流域耕地生态供需状况在空间上具有显著的不平衡性,整体呈“北盈南亏,梯次递进”的空间分异特征。[结论]构建基于耕地“三生”功能的生态足迹模型,能够更加全面地探索耕地生态供需情况。基于耕地的多功能,人类对耕地资源的占用与消耗差异显著。流域耕地生态补偿机制的建立应充分考虑其空间差异特征。

基于生态足迹模型的粤港澳大湾区生态安全评价

厘清人类对区域生态资源的消耗程度和占用大小对区域生态安全发展至关重要。本研究以粤港澳大湾区为研究对象,引入净初级生产力(NPP)修正均衡因子和产量因子,细化土地利用/土地覆盖变化(land use/land cover change,LUCC)类型为11类,并以区域的生物资源和能源消耗数据为基础,对大湾区2010、2019年的生态安全状况进行评估。结果表明:①大湾区LUCC变化明显,间接促使生态足迹发生变化。②大湾区整体生态环境处于安全状态;各城市生态环境存在差异,主要以肇庆、惠州、江门等外围城市表现为生态安全,以佛山、东莞、中山等中部城市表现为生态较差。③大湾区生态压力值整体处于降低趋势,在空间上呈现中部高、四周低的分布态势;在行政区上澳门地区为压力最大的城市,惠州、肇庆为压力最小的城市。

基于NPP的青海省草地生态足迹以及生态承载力估算——以海晏县为例

基于NPP(植被净初级生产力)数据以及统计数据,通过生态足迹以及生态承载力计算模型,对2000—2020年海晏县草地生态足迹以及生态承载力进行了估算。结果表明:海晏县草地NPP多年平均值为368.96 g·m^(-2)·a^(-1)(以C计,下同);空间分布具有一定的垂直地带性,具体表现为随海拔升高,NPP逐渐降低;21 a间海晏县草地人均生态足迹呈缓慢上升的趋势,平均生态足迹为0.24 hm^(2)·cap^(-1),2020年海晏县草地生态足迹较2000年增长了0.16 hm^(2)·cap^(-1);草地人均生态足迹最小的区域分布于草地生产力较强的中部区域,最大的区域主要分布于环湖北部以及北部高海拔的部分区域;草地人均生态承载力呈微弱降低的趋势,空间分布特征表现为北部以及中部减少,西南以及东南部增加,草地生态承载力较大的区域分布于甘子河乡、金滩乡以及青海湖乡,面积占比约为67.93%;全县草地生态赤字/盈余的平均值为2.87hm^(2)·cap^(-1),呈由四周向中部逐渐增加的分布格局,总体上每年的数值均>0,表明区域草地生态系统处于盈余的状态,未出现较大环境危机。

中国单位畜牧产品生态足迹分析

中国畜牧业生产以农户散养为主要生产方式,一方面,它的工业化程度远低于发达国家,另一方面,又比其他发展中国家生产得更为精细。因此在计算单位畜牧产品生态足迹这一畜牧业生态影响评价中的重要参数时,必须考虑到我国牲畜口粮的特点。分析了我国牲畜口粮的成分,据此确定猪肉、禽肉和禽蛋足迹主要来自饲料中粮食,而牛肉、羊肉和牛奶足迹则来自草料和饲料中粮食。基于我国单位畜牧产品耗粮量和草地平均产肉产奶量,计算各种单位畜牧产品的生态足迹。结果表明,1kg禽肉足迹为7.6687gm2(全球平方m2,记作gm2)、禽蛋足迹为8.0106gm2、猪肉足迹为9.7859gm2或11.7326gm2、牛肉足迹为139.704gm2、羊肉足迹为232.0662gm2和牛奶足迹为37.2368gm2。将计算结果与世界自然基金会(WorldWildlifeFund,简称WWF)的结果进行了对比分析,并从料肉比、役畜、牲畜食草量和居民饮食结构等几个方面分析了二者之间差异的原因。

基于土地消纳粪便能力的畜禽养殖承载力

为了评估北京市平谷区畜禽养殖承载潜力及其污染潜势,该文针对生态涵养区果园占农用地比例大这一特点,参考欧洲标准和相关文献设定了耕地和果园的氮(磷)限量标准,并分析平谷区及其各乡镇耕地和果园对畜禽养殖的承载潜力。结果表明:1)全区农用地平均粪便负荷为16.7 t/hm2,低于30 t/hm2的国家标准,果园对粪便的负荷占农用地总负荷量的66.42%,是最主要的消纳畜禽粪便的载体;2)全区尚有一定的畜禽承载潜力,以氮、磷计分别为6.25万头猪当量和9.48万头猪当量,但各乡镇承载潜力差异显著,兴谷等8个乡镇属于过量承载,具有很高的污染风险,而大华山等9个乡镇仍有较大的承载潜力。研究结果可为平谷区养殖业布局调整、环境污染治理和畜禽粪便资源化利用等决策提供支持。