The evolution of sustainability

Six separate but related strains of thought have emerged prominently since 1950 in discussions of such phenomena as the interrelationships among rates of population growth, resource use, and pressure on the environment. They are the ecological/carrying capacity root, the resources/environment root, the biosphere root, the critique of technology root, the no growth/slow growth root, and the ecodevelopment root.Each of these strains of thought was fully developed before the word sustainable itself was used. Many of the roots are based on fundamentally opposing assessments of the future of mankind. Many of the roots, such as the ecology/carrying capacity root, are based on physical concepts, and they exclude normative values. Others, such as the ecodevelopment root, include such values as equity, broad participation in governance, and decentralized government.When the word sustainability was first used in 1972 in the context of man's future, in a British book,Blueprint for Survival, normative concepts were prominent. This continued to be the case when the word was first used in 1974 in the United States to justify a no growth economy.Sustainability was first used in a United Nations document in 1978. Normative concepts, encapsulated in the term ecodevelopment, were prominent in the United Nations publications.After about 1978, the term sustainability began to be used not only in technological articles and reports but also in policy documents culminating in the use of the term in the report of the summit meeting of the Group of Seven in 1989.The roots of the term sustainability are so deeply embedded in fundamentally different concepts, each of which has valid claims to validity, that a search for a single definition seems futile. The existence of multiple meaning is tolerable if each analyst describes clearly what he means by sustainability.     

基于SVR的长江经济带水环境承载力评价

基于DPSIRM模型构建区域水环境承载力评价指标体系,并基于SVR模型构建了区域水环境承载力评价模型,利用交叉验证法对SVR模型参数进行优化选择,进一步提高模型预测精度.运用该模型研究了长江经济带2009~2018年的水环境承载力演变趋势及空间差异,结果表明：长江经济带水环境承载力等级整体呈现升高趋势,其中上游城市群承载等级由II级（超载）提升到了IV级（弱可承载）;中游城市群承载等级由II级（超载）提升到了IV级（弱可承载）;下游长三角区域承载等级由I级（重超载）提升到了IV级（弱可承载）.将评价结果与熵权-TOPSIS法的评价结果相比较,相同率达到91.7%,说明SVR模型评价区域水环境承载力可行,评价结果可靠.以下游区域为例,分别对其6个子系统的承载力进行剖析,并运用单因素轮换OAT法对各子系统内的评价指标进行敏感性分析,便于决策者识别指标敏感性.     

土地承载力研究范式的变迁、分化及其综论

基于Kuhn范式理论,将现有土地承载力研究成果显化、梳理为4种主要研究范式,即基于限制因子的研究范式、基于多因素综合的研究范式、基于参照区的研究范式、基于生态足迹的研究范式。以范式应用的时代背景、空间尺度为着眼点,对各类范式进行综合比较,结果显示：基于限制因子的土地承载力研究范式起源最早、发展最为成熟,基于多因素综合、基于参照区、基于生态足迹的3种研究范式,均是以前者为基础,按照不同的方向分化而成;范式分化的原因在于时空条件的变化所引致的亟需解释、解决的现实问题的变化。范式本身并无优劣之分,但有其独特的适应性：基于限制因子、基于生态足迹的两种研究范式适用于全球及国家等大尺度土地承载力问题,且发展较为成熟,其成果具有较强的理论和实践指导意义;基于多因素综合及基于参照区的两种研究范式适用于市县等中小尺度,但其研究较为薄弱,所得的承载力分值、承载力相对值对区域土地管理实践的指导价值有限。当前,市县等中小尺度土地承载力研究亟需加强,其指导实践的有效性与可操作性亟待大幅度提高。     

基于空间适宜性评价和人口承载力的贵溪市中心城区城市开发边界的划定

城市开发边界的划定能够合理引导城市空间的有序发展,控制其无序蔓延。论文以典型的资源型城市贵溪市为研究区,从空间适宜性评价、人口承载力、城市规模以及城市总体规划和土地利用总体规划（简称“两规”）衔接等方面探索有效的城市开发边界划定方法。空间适宜性评价综合考虑自然、空间可达性和生态条件,运用聚类分析法确定区域内不宜作为开发建设的生态底线区域和适宜建设开发区域的高低等级,以此确定城市开发边界的发展方向。通过灰色预测GM(1,1)模型预测研究区2020年人口总量,并基于土地资源和水资源承载力验证当地所能容纳的最大人口总量,同时确定城市规模和划定城市开发边界。以空间适宜性评价、人口承载力、城市规模预测、两规衔接和空间形态控制等方法倒逼缩减建设用地,从而划定城市发展的刚性和弹性增长边界。     

Economic development and environmental protection: an ecological economics perspective

This paper argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that, beyond a certain point, there is an unavoidable conflictbetween economic development (generally taken to mean 'materialeconomic growth') and environmental protection. Think for a moment of natural forests, grasslands, marine estuaries, salt marshes, and coral reefs; and of arable soils, aquifers, mineraldeposits, petroleum, and coal. These are all forms of 'natural capital' that represent highly-ordered self-producing ecosystemsor rich accumulations of energy/matter with high use potential (low entropy). Now contemplate despoiled landscapes, eroding farmlands, depleted fisheries, anthropogenic greenhouse gases,acid rain, poisonous mine tailings and toxic synthetic compounds.These all represent disordered systems or degraded forms of energy and matter with little use potential (high entropy). The main thing connecting these two states is human economic activity. Ecological economics interprets the environment-economyrelationship in terms of the second law of thermodynamics. The second law sees economic activity as a dissipative process. Fromthis perspective, the production of economic goods andservices invariably requires the consumption of available energy and matter. To grow and develop, the economynecessarily 'feeds' on sources of high-quality energy/matter first produced by nature. This tends to disorder and homogenizethe ecosphere, The ascendance of humankind has consistently been accompanied by an accelerating rate of ecological degradation, particularly biodiversity loss, the simplificationof natural systems and pollution. In short, contemporary political rhetoric to the contrary, the prevailing growth-oriented global development paradigm is fundamentally incompatible with long-term ecological and social sustainability. Unsustainability is not a technical nor economic problem as usually conceived, but rather a state of systemic incompatibilitybetween a economy that is a fully-contained, growing, dependent sub-system of a non-growing ecosphere. Potential solutions fly inthe face of contemporary development trends and cultural values.     

我国土地资源利用的几个战略问题

我国人均资源占有量远低于世界水平,资源供应日益紧缺,并将成为经济发展的一个重要的约束条件。从土地资源的潜力来看,我国土地理论的最高人口承载量可能是15—16亿人,并在相当长的时期内将处于临界状态。关键在于控制人口的增长和在农业方面采取超常规的增产措施,特别是大幅度增加农业投入。我国土地生产潜力东部大于西部,粮食生产的重点应放在中部地带。20亿亩耕地是我国国土资源的精华所在,种植业的主攻方向应放在中产田,并大力加强我国九片商品粮基地的建设。林业建设的战略重点应尽快转向山区。牧业应发展饲料生产,开辟新的饲料基地。从总体看,应强调发展资源节约型的农业,以内涵挖潜为主,向生产的深度和广度进军。     

河西走廊灌溉农业发展的水资源承载能力分析

论文采用模糊综合评判方法,对河西走廊灌溉农业发展的水资源承载能力进行了分析,建立了评价的数学模型。研究表明,该区水资源开发利用已近于其饱和容量,发展节水灌溉,充分提高水的利用效率,是保障和发展干旱区农业的根本出路。     

区域土地资源承载能力研究模式雏议——以甘肃省定西县为例

本文从土地现实生产力分析和作物潜在生产力估算入手,借助IBM-PC计算机,通过土地资源生产力评价的 MFICA 模式和土地资源优化利用模型的建立,初步框算了定西县1990年、2000年,2025年以及2050年之后的区域农业生产力及其土地资源承载力,进尔阐释了该县土地资源承载力的演变及其土地-粮食-人口关系的可能发展趋势。为区域土地资源承载力研究提供了一条切实可行的途径。     

土地资源人口承载量的预测及其在人地关系研究中的意义——以江苏省滨海、苏州为例

几百年的人地关系研究历史证明,许多思想家和地理学家往往都以粮食这一特殊物质入手,并以粮食为诊断因素来反映人与自然之间错综复杂的联系。80年代中期兴起的土地资源人口承载量的研究,乃是这一传统研究思路的延续。因而,在我国深入开展这一项研究的过程中,有必要在吸收国外研究方法和经验的同时,注意总结历史的教训。①土地资源人口承载量的研究,其目的并不在于获取土地资源到底能养活多少人这一精确的人口数据,而在于揭示人口、粮食、土地三者之间的复杂关系及其地域差异。②土地资源的生产潜力是土地的自然属性与人类管理水平的综合反映,人类对土地的反作用以及科学技术的影响是使土地资源人口承载量发生阶段性跃迁的主要因素,在进行长周期预测时应予以足够的重视。③在引进国外方法和模式时,应根据不同的研究精度、不同的研究目的、不同的区域性质以及研究条件等加以科学订正。作者从人地关系研究出发,以滨海县和苏州市2个不同类型地区为实例,采用机助多要素图叠置分析的方法,进行了土地资源人口承载量的预测和分析。     

中国土地资源安全度研究——以土地资源的人口承载力为标准

土地资源安全维系着国民经济能否可持续发展，而可持续发展是在不超过生态系统承载力条件下的一种安全发展模式。以中国大陆29个省市为例，研究了中国各省区的土地资源人口承载力，进而计算了我国土地资源的安全度。结果表明，我国各省区土地资源人口承载力存在明显的地域不均衡现象，超载与盈余并存；多数省份处于接近或超过土地资源人口承载临界值，我国土地资源安全状况不容乐观。