The water supply footprint (WSF): a strategic planning tool for sustainable regional and local water supplies

This paper introduces a new methodological approach of the ecological footprint explicitly addressing the sustainability of water supplies, which we call the water supply footprint (WSF). The WSF calculates the catchment area or water supply hinterland of a certain society and can serve as a strategic planning tool for local or regional water supplies linking the water demand with the water supply in a water supply footprint matrix. Based on regional water balances it estimates how much water can be appropriated for human use in an environmentally sustainable way.The proposed method is tested on the South East Queensland water supply in Australia, an area where water use restrictions are regularly imposed on the population. Applying the proposed method indicates that supply shortages may be avoided by considerably changing the organisation of water supply, thereby reducing and possibly even avoiding the necessity for large-scale supply side measures like additional sweet water reservoirs or desalination plants. In that way it is demonstrated that the WSF method is applicable at an early and strategic stage of water supply planning.     

重庆市2004年的水足迹分析

把水足迹分析方法作为一个实用的工具,用来分析一个国家或地区的生产结构或消费方式是如何影响水资源的利用,是当前国际水资源领域研究的一个热点。而研究一个国家或地区如何通过客观评价水足迹来减少国内水资源压力、如何通过虚拟水贸易来获得最大的利益则是水足迹分析方法的两个发展方向。首先介绍了水足迹分析法的基本理论和研究方法,接着计算了重庆市2004年的水足迹。结果表明,重庆市2004年的水足迹为37017×108 m3,人均水足迹为1 177 m3／a,水自给率为9869％,过高的水足迹和自给率给重庆市的水资源带来巨大的压力。同时也分析了产生这么高水足迹的原因,并探讨了水足迹对重庆市水资源管理的启示和战略意义。最后对该方法及其应用前景进行了评价。     

枣庄市生态足迹动态研究

应用生态足迹模型对山东省枣庄市1995-2008年生态足迹进行了计算,分析该市14年来各类土地生态足迹消费和供给的动态变化趋势,研究了该市土地资源利用的可持续性发展状况。结果表明,枣庄市生态足迹消费从1995年的2.926 4 hm2/人增加到2008年的6.880 1 hm2/人,增加了2.25倍;生态足迹消费大于土地生态系统的承载力表现为生态赤字,赤字水平由1995年的2.630 4hm2/人上升到2008年的6.529 0 hm2/人,增加了2.48倍,区域内的土地利用处于不可持续发展状态。计算表明该市的资源利用方式仍处于消耗型、粗放型阶段,发展模式是不可持续的,其生态环境具有不安全性,社会经济发展与生态环境的协调性很差。     

家用空调碳足迹及其关键影响因素分析

我国居民家庭空调拥有量迅速增加,其生命周期中产生的温室效应也日益受到关注.本文依据国际标准PAS 2050,采用RCEES 2012和Ecoinvent 2.1数据库,并运用SimaPro 7.1软件计算了中国典型家用空调的碳足迹.主要结论为:家用空调生命周期中使用阶段用电产生的碳足迹最大,占67%;制冷剂的泄漏是除电力使用外第二大碳足迹贡献因素,产生了23%的碳足迹;生产制造阶段和废物处理阶段的碳足迹分别占16%和-6%.敏感性分析表明,空调日使用时间、空调年使用季节和制冷剂的泄漏比例是家用空调碳足迹的关键影响因素.     

基于生态系统供给及净化服务功能的贵州省水生态占用研究

针对传统及现有水生态足迹理论及其模型存在的缺陷与不足,本文提出了基于生态系统供给及净化服务功能的贵州省水生态占用概念与模型,将其划分为生物生产和非生物生产的水生态占用两部分,建立水产品、水资源、水环境3类账户,并在此基础上以2000—2014年的贵州省为例进行计算分析,结果表明:(1)水产品账户中,贵州省水产品消费的水生态占用总体呈上升趋势,水生态承载力波动变化较小,水产品消费呈生态赤字状态,且其生态压力较大;(2)水资源账户中,贵州省淡水资源的水生态占用整体呈逐渐上升趋势,水生态承载力则呈明显波动的趋势,且变化幅度较大,淡水资源消费处于生态盈余状态,且其与水生态承载力的变化态势一致,淡水资源消费的生态压力较小;(3)水环境账户中,水环境生态压力主要来源于氮污染,2000—2010年消纳污染的水生态占用变化不大,2011—2014年波动较大,历年生活水污染账户值均大于工业,今后要注重加强生活水污染防治,消纳污染的水生态承载力呈波动变化的趋势,水环境处于生态赤字状态,且其生态压力较高;(4)与现有生态足迹模型的比较分析可知:该模型核算更为全面;不考虑均衡因子,并以最大水生态压力指数来评价区域水生态系统所承受的压力状态具有合理性,更能准确反映贵州水生态的实际情况和水生态文明建设的需要.     

Sustainable Tourism and the Touristic Ecological Footprint

There is growing interest in ecological footprint analysis in aiding our understanding of societal demands upon the biosphere. Increasingly, attention is being focused on potential new applications of the technique. Tourism is one of the world's largest industries and can play a major part in encouraging more consumerist lifestyles. It is now widely accepted that tourism development may have profound impacts on local environments, and that, consequently, the sustainable development of tourism at destination areas is an important issue. However, sustainable tourism studies rarely look beyond the destination area, and there has been no substantive recognition of the wider ecological footprint of tourism activities. This paper attempts to connect, conceptually, the realms of sustainable tourism and ecological footprint thinking. In so doing, various conceptualisations of the 'touristic ecological footprint' (TEF) are suggested, along with some potential applications. It is argued that primary research should focus on calculating the touristic ecological footprint associated with individual tourism products, throughout the product's life-cycle. As well as bringing another dimension to our understanding of tourism's actual ecological demand, it is also argued that the concept of the touristic ecological footprint may be used to clarify theoretical aspects of the sustainable tourism debate, helping to rejuvenate this debate in the process.     

广州人口、资源与环境相互关系的定量研究

人口、资源、环境是城市和谐发展的三大基本支撑要素。通过计算广州适度人口、验证库兹尼茨曲线、计算生态足迹等，分析了广州人口、资源与环境三者之间的关系。通过分析可以看出，支撑广州城市可持续发展的三大基本要素——人口规模、资源承载力和环境容量基本都已接近峰值，城市发展面临着有史以来的最大压力，而且资源支撑经济社会发展的能力在弱化，但环境总体质量趋向于好转，库兹尼茨曲线正在向其倒U形的右半部分过渡。为实现城市的可持续发展，广州要处理好经济社会发展与人口、资源、环境的关系，更加关注自然资本。     

Detailed Ecological Footprint Accounting of Liaoning in 2006

Ecological footprint （EF） has received considerable attention as a useful indicator in the context of sustainable development. So far, EF has been used in numerous studies by academies, organizations and government authorities. However, the results of these studies failed to be comparable directly with each other due to imprecise data sets, unmodified accounting methods of pasture and fossil energy, ignored secondary products, undefined process Of calculating yield factors and improper biocapacity for biodiversity. In this paper, we elaborated on EF estimating methods from six categories of consumption in order to overcome the limitations above. We adopted precise data and revised methods, calculated EF of some secondary products, introduced weighted factor to calculate yield factors and adjusted biocapacity by an appropriate amount. Meanwhile, we investigated the resource consumption of Liaoning Province in 2006 to assess EF. Its results showed that Liaoning Province overused its natural capital and was in an unsustainable state. We concluded that two specific problems that had arisen in EF assessment and gave some suggestions for Liaoning Province to improve its unsustainable state.     

生态脆弱区榆林三维生态足迹动态变化及其驱动因素

榆林能源丰富但生态脆弱,是生态工程的重点实施区域。分析榆林自然资本存量及流量的利用状况,有利于揭示自然资本占用的成因、探讨生态脆弱区环境保护与经济社会可持续发展的问题。在测算榆林2005—2014年人均生态足迹、人均生态承载力、生态压力指数等的基础上,以足迹深度和广度描述了自然资本存量消耗与流量占用的变化关系,并以偏最小二乘法分析了驱动生态足迹变化的因素。结果显示：10 a来榆林人均生态赤字增长幅度为274.18%,其中,能源消耗账户贡献率最高;人均生态承载力增加了61.81%,体现出生态建设的正向作用。榆林对资本存量消耗的速度大于资本流量占用的速度。影响生态足迹变化的显著因素是经济增长和社会消费。这些结论不仅对榆林自然资本利用与经济协调发展具有参考意义,而且对生态脆弱区核算自然资本、探讨生态系统与经济社会系统间的关系有一定的学术价值。