Methodology for an urban ecological footprint to evaluate sustainable development in China

The ecological footprint (EF) is a method for measuring sustainable development through ecological impact. A methodology is presented for predicting urban ecological footprints. Urban energy use and natural resource consumption were analyzed to calculate an EF based on land type (arable, pasture, forest, fossil energy land, built-up area and water area) and consumption (food, housing, transportation, goods, services and waste). The result was then compared with the local ecological carrying capacity to develop criteria for sustainable ecological footprints. Case studies of four cities in China (Guangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou and Yangzhou) illustrate the urban EF approach. The time series of EF in a case study of Guangzhou for 1991–2001 was analyzed and the consumption–land-use matrix of urban EF was established. The results show that the cities are ecologically unsustainable, with average ecological conflicts per capita of more than 2 ha. The urban EF method is useful to measure urban sustainable development and provides policy proposals for decision-making. However, the EF method still has limitations and weaknesses.     

Ecological footprint and biological capacity time series assessment for a forest region in northeastern China

Anthropogenic disturbances have caused major landscape changes in the forests of northeastern China during the past 50 years. In particular, continuous over-deforestation has greatly decreased the region's forest quality. Ecological footprint analysis generates aggregated information about a population's demand on nature and the population regional biological capacity. To show the forest change and the population's ecological demand on the study area, this paper presents an ecological footprint time series for the Songling Forestry Bureau in northeastern China from 1965 to 2000. The paper shows conventional ecological footprint time series and area demand time series – under global, Chinese and local yearly yields – to study the biological productivity of Songling. In this study, biological capacity was calculated based on a conventional approach. The results demonstrate that the ecological footprint has increased slightly and continuously during the 35-year timespan, while the biological capacity has decreased dramatically. These effects have been caused mainly by the depletion of forest resources. The results also yield much information about natural changes and socioeconomic dynamics, as well as the driving factors for these changes, of which the most important is forest management policy.     

南京市生态足迹实证分析

利用生态足迹的理论和计算方法,对南京市可持续发展状况及程度进行了评价和度量,利用南京市2001年至2003年的相关数据计算分析得出,南京市的人均生态承载力在逐年下降,人均生态足迹也有增加的趋势,尤其是能源消费生态足迹在近3年的生态足迹中仍然占有很大的比重,南京目前的经济发展是以消耗其他区域的自然资源和能源为基础的,其所面临的生态环境压力仍然很严重。     

湖南省生态足迹与生态承载力的动态变化分析

生态足迹是定量研究区域可持续发展的一种重要方法。为了定量评价湖南省可持续发展程度的动态变化,利用生态足迹理论,计算分析了湖南省1998--2006年间的生态足迹变化过程。结果表明,湖南省人均生态足迹由1998年的1．2441hm。上升至2006年的1．6377hm^2;人均生态承载力由1998年的0．4819hm^2减少为2006年的0．4556hm^2,人均生态赤字由1998年的0．7622hm0上升到2006年的1．1821hm0。生态赤字逐年提高,生态足迹与生态承载力之间的矛盾加剧,区域生态环境处于不安全状态。生态足迹供需结构分析表明,湖南省人均生态足迹供需存在严重的不平衡,其需求以草地、耕地是构成湖南省人均生态足迹的主要组成部分,分别占人均生态足迹的30．11％～37．34％以及29．83％-33．53％,其次是化石能源地（17．60％～22．85％）。而供给以耕地为主,占人均生态承载力的51．02％～53．23％。研究期间万元GDP生态足迹总体上呈下降趋势,表明湖南省的资源利用率不断提高。同时根据生态盈亏的影响因素,并结合湖南省经济发展现状和资源分布特点,探讨了降低和消除区域生态赤字的措施建议。     

Linking the concept of ecological footprint and valuation of ecosystem services: A case study of economic growth and natural carrying capacity

Human activities have become so extensive that all ecosystems on the planet have been altered to some extent. The fate of humankind will be determined by how sustainable ecosystems and the renewable resources in them are managed. The implication of this is obvious: humanity must live within nature's carrying capacity. In recent years, humans have recognised that growth of the economy depends on natural capital, and it is important that we now recognise that we are part of an international ecological economics community, so as to better integrate the economy and ecology. However, there are few successful examples of this. The aim of this paper is to show a method for integrated analysis between economic growth and natural carrying capacity by linking the concepts of ecological footprint and valuation of ecosystem services. When applied to China for the period 1987–2003, the empirical evidence suggests that the size of the Chinese economy surpassed the carrying capacity in 1992. Perhaps, we should abandon our high-growth predilection and initiate a transition to a steady-state economy.     

安徽省耕地资源利用分析

根据安徽省生态环境现状调查的结果 ,耕地是安徽省主要的土地利用类型。由于经济建设、生态建设、经济利益的驱动和有限的后备资源 ,耕地面积逐年减少 ;肥力不足、土壤退化、水土流失等因素影响了安徽省耕地资源质量 ;低的生态占用表明该省人口数量已给环境造成巨大的生态压力 ,人地矛盾日趋突出。粮食的安全保障依赖于耕地的高强度利用、化肥的大量施用和有效灌溉面积的扩大。加强土地管理 ,严格执法 ,合理规划用地 ,以科学技术来提高粮食的单产水平和土地利用的集约化程度 ,是耕地可持续利用的保证。     

生态足迹与生态承载力动态变化研究——以辽宁省为例

利用生态足迹理论和计算方法、生态承载力分析方法分析了辽宁省1998--2007年十年期间的人均生态足迹和人均生态承载力变化过程。结果表明：辽宁省人均生态足迹由1998年的2．9187上升到2007年的4．3578,人均生态承载力由1998年的0．6676下降到2007年的0．6520,生态赤字逐年增加,生态系统处于人类过度开发利用状态之中;万元GDP生态足迹始终处于下降的趋势,表明辽宁省对区域生物生产面积利用效率逐年提高,但与全国平均水平相比还有提高的空间;从供需结构分析,辽宁省土地供给以耕地为主,但是从消费结构来看以化石燃料土地为主。     

小流域可持续发展能力的生态足迹法分析--以重庆市万州区五桥河流域为例

以三峡库区五桥河流域为例,将生态足迹理论与方法运用于小流域尺度的可持续发展研究中,采用问卷调查的数据获取方式,保守地估算了该区居民的生态足迹需求和生态足迹供给,并与其他国家(地区)作比较,分析了该区的资源利用效益.结果表明,五桥河流域人均生态足迹需求为1.020 7 hm2·人-1,而生态承载力仅为0.465 2 hm2·人-1,生态赤字达到-0.555 5 hm2·人-1;生态足迹需求及亏缺主要源于林地和草地类产品的消费;五桥河流域生态足迹赤字已经高于全球水平(-0.4 hm2·人-1),资源利用效率仅为世界平均水平的12%,该区发展呈相对不可持续状态.     

基于生态足迹法的区域水资源生态承载力计算与评价——以珠海市为例

研究了人类社会对水资源的消耗、对自然生态环境的影响以及该影响的量化方法和量化指标,将生态足迹法引入区域水资源承载力系统,构建珠海市水资源生态承载力计算模型,分析计算水资源供给对区域经济社会发展的生态承载力,并对该地区的水资源生态承载力进行生态盈亏和敏感性评价.结果表明,总体上珠海市水资源系统呈现生态亏损,亏损率为37%,水资源生态承载呈现超载现象,珠海市城市化进程中流动人口增长对区域水资源的生态承载压力较大.研究结果还表明,将生态足迹模型运用到地区水资源承载力中具有较高的可信度,对地方尺度具有适用性.     

Multi-index integrated assessment and analysis of town-sewage treatment priorities in China

Water quality is one of the most serious problems of environment and national sustainable development strategy now facing China. After hard work over the last several decades, urban-sewage treatment in China is now relatively well developed. It now affords mainly higher levels of sewage collection and treatment, as well as pollution-load control. The characteristic rapid urbanization now occurring in China is still increasing and developing dramatically, and involves large numbers of people. However, in towns, sewage treatment infrastructure is inadequate, and a high percentage of the sewage generated there is not effectively collected and treated. The sewage and pollution load of such towns have become the most important reason for environmental water problems in China. To understand the priorities of sewage treatment in such towns, and their spatial distribution in China, we conducted two nationwide investigations of water use and sewage discharge in towns. Based on the integrated analytic hierarchy process (AHP), assessment indices and a framework of town-sewage treatment priorities in China were constructed. Then, we assessed and analyzed the priorities of towns regarding three aspects of sewage treatment: environmental stress, economic capability, and infrastructure. The results showed that the southeast coastal areas and north China had higher demand for sewage treatment than other areas. The demand in eastern and western areas had obvious differences in spatial distribution, but had nearly no differences within those areas. The towns having the greatest demand for high-priority sewage treatment were concentrated in regions with high economic capability and intense water resource utilization.     

生态经济学的价值观

农业产品因投入劳动和消耗自然界的资源形成价值。农业产品在生产和流通过程中，伴随其本身的价值，还会产生其经济效益。利用生态循环中可以再生的资源，可产生生态经济效益，运用先进的农业技术可产生技术经济效益，流通领域中的供求优势可产生社会经济效益。     

Under the shadow of Asian Brown Clouds: Unbalanced regional productivities in China and environmental concerns

China has seen rapid economic growth over the past two decades, but severe environmental problems have accompanied this, such as the looming danger of Asian Brown Clouds. This paper analyzes the regional development of China by examining economic performance and environmental factors. Technical efficiency and productivity changes in 31 regions of China are computed for the period 1997–2001. In the case of regional GDP, the fast-developing eastern (coastal) regions experience higher technical efficiency and productivity growth than the inland central and western regions. When environmental factors are incorporated, the eastern regions still perform better than inland regions, both from static and dynamic analysis. This phenomenon is termed the 'double deterioration' of the inland areas in China. Double deterioration is attributed to the lack of economic resources to replace highly-polluting production equipment and technology in those less developed regions.     

基于生态足迹模型的区域可持续发展定量评估——以东江流域东源县为例

可持续发展定量评价方法研究是当前可持续发展研究的前沿和热点.生态足迹分析模型是通过对区域人口对自然利用程度的测度,确定区域的发展是否处于生态承载力范围之内.运用生态足迹理论和计算方法,采用2004-2007年东源县统计年鉴、历年年初土地面积、2002世界粮农组织(FAO)和世界自然基金会(WWF)的相关数据,对重点饮用水源地--东源县14 a(1994-2007年)来人均生态足迹和人均生态承载力进行实证计算和分析.结果表明:2007年的东源县人均生态足迹需求为0.856 1 hm~2·cap~(-1),而实际人均生态空间面积(均衡承载力面积)为1.641 8 hm~2·cap~(-1),人均生态盈余为0.588 7hm~2·cap~(-1).14 a来东源县的生态承载力总体上几乎都是大于生态需求(除了1995年、1996年生态需求略大于生态供给外),处于生态盈余状态且生态盈余呈现稳中增长的趋势,区域生态系统处于一种相对可持续状态.其中,林地生态承载量最大,生态盈余最多,呈现逐年减少的态势;耕地生态承载量次之,生态足迹最大,生态赤字大,生态压力严重;水域和草地的生态压力逐年增大.     

徐州市生态环境问题及其自然、经济、社会原因分析

随着徐州工业化和城市化推进,不可持续的经济社会发展模式给原本脆弱的生态环境造成了极大压力,产生了诸多生态环境问题,区域人口、资源、环境之间的矛盾日趋尖锐。从区域整体角度,在对资源型城市徐州进行了大量调研的基础上,分析了徐州生态环境问题背后的自然、经济、社会原因,并提出相应对策建议。     

Evaluation for sustainable land use in coastal areas: A landscape ecological prospect

Evaluation of sustainability is the core of research on sustainable land use. To a certain extent, traditional social, economic and ecological evaluation for sustainable land use can be regarded as an appraisal on the temporal scale without evaluation of spatial patterns. Landscape ecology can help to realize spatial evaluation for sustainable land use. In this paper, we construct landscape ecological indicators for evaluating sustainable coastal land use from the aspects of landscape productivity, threats and stability, to realize a synthetic temporal-spatial evaluation. These cover the five pillars of sustainable land use, i.e. productivity, security, protection, viability and acceptability. The results of applying landscape ecological evaluation to a case study in Wudi County in China show that land use sustainability is somewhat low and there are great regional differences between its 11 villages. We classified the 11 villages into 5 grades: strong sustainable land use, sustainable land use, weak sustainable land use, weak unsustainable land use, and strong unsustainable land use. Each grade has different land use characteristics and differs in the counter-measures required. But the core countermeasures in all the grades are to improve landscape productivity, to reduce human threats and to optimize landscape patterns.     

A modified method of ecological footprint calculation and its application

As economic and ecological support systems become more interdependent, new disciplines are needed to “bridge the gap” between human and nature. “Emergy” created by H.T. Odum is a new method for evaluating natural capital and ecosystem services. The “ecological footprint” created by Wackernagel and Rees has been promoted as a policy and planning tool for sustainability. The aim of this paper is to show a modified form of ecological footprint calculation by combining emergy analysis with conventional ecological footprint form of calculations. Our new method starts from the energy flows of a system in calculating ecological footprint and carrying capacity. Through a study of the energy flows, and using the method of emergy analysis, the energy flows of a system are translated into corresponding biological productive units. To demonstrate the mechanics of this new method, we compared our calculations with that of an original calculation of ecological footprint of a regional case. We select Gansu province in western China, as an example for application of our study. In this case the same conclusions were drawn using both methods: that Gansu province runs an ecological deficit.     

土地资源永续利用的生态经济对策

土地资源是人类赖以生存的最基本的自然资源，土地资源的永续利用是实现社会、经济和生态全面可持续发展的基础。本文在分析土地资源利用特点，土地资源永续利用的内涵、原则与指南的基础上，提出了实现土地资源永续利用的一系列生态经济对策。     

Bottom-up and climatic forcing on the worldwide population of leatherback turtles

Nesting populations of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) in the Atlantic and western Indian Oceans are increasing or stable while those in the Pacific are declining. It has been suggested that leatherbacks in the eastern Pacific may be resource limited due to environmental variability derived from the El Ni?o Southern Oscillation (ENSO), but this has yet to be tested. Here we explored bottom-up forcing and the responding reproductive output of nesting leatherbacks worldwide. We achieved this through an extensive review of leatherback nesting and migration data and by analyzing the spatial, temporal, and quantitative nature of resources as indicated by net primary production at post-nesting female migration and foraging areas. Leatherbacks in the eastern Pacific were the smallest in body size and had the lowest reproductive output due to less productive and inconsistent resources within their migration and foraging areas. This derived from natural interannual and multidecadal climate variability together with an influence of anthropogenic climate warming that is possibly affecting these natural cycles. The reproductive output of leatherbacks in the Atlantic and western Indian Oceans was nearly twice that of turtles in the eastern Pacific. The inconsistent nature of the Pacific Ocean may also render western Pacific leatherbacks susceptible to a more variable reproductive output; however, it appears that egg harvesting on nesting beaches is their major threat. We suggest that the eastern Pacific leatherback population is more sensitive to anthropogenic mortality due to recruitment rates that are lower and more variable, thus accounting for much of the population differences compared to Atlantic and western Indian turtles.     

中国域际关键自然资本竞争效应的测算与分析

以生产生态足迹核算法为基础,引入关键自然资本概念,计算全国32个地区1949至2007年的3类自然资源的本区域生态足迹,即生产性土地、水资本及能源足迹,核算时将水产品、淡水及水电统一在水足迹项下,并对生产性土地和能源足迹的核算口径作相应调整。在此基础上,继而测算关键自然资本竞争效应,从全局及个案2个角度分析区域发展战略对区域关键自然资本竞争效应的影响。这里关键自然资本竞争效应是对区域自然资本禀赋开采活动的抽象,描述战略期内某区域自然资本开采量调整幅度较同期平均水平的相对情况。全局分析,即比较东、中、西部地区1949至1979年非倾向性区域战略、1980至1997年东部倾向性战略和1998至2007年中、西部倾向性战略期的关键自然资本竞争效应,结果显示：关键自然资本竞争效应的调整方向与区域战略倾斜方向相同,第一次调整为东部倾斜,对应着东部境内关键自然资本竞争效应的上升,第二次调整为中、西部倾斜政策,对应着中、西部境内关键自然资本的上升。南水北调工程作为个案分析,补充论述资源再配置工程对关键自然资本竞争效应的影响,通过比较南水北调东、中线相关区域关键自然资本变动情况发现：水源区自然资本生产力下降;不可持续开采方式的负外部性有从＂点＂向工程沿线扩展的可能。     

北京市植被生态需水量与生态服务功能的关系

植被是城市生态系统中重要的组成部分,研究植被的生态需水、以及由生态缺水导致的服务功能变化具有重要意义。采用面积定额法,估算出北京市植被的最小生态需水量为37.4亿m3;采用情景分析方法,分析了不同植被类型、人均生活用水增加、人口增加情景下生态缺水量及其导致的生态服务功能变化。污水、中水回用、植被蓄水与雨水收集是缓解生态缺水的有效措施。