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.     

Changing face of polyculture in the Darma and Johaar valleys,Pithoragarh, Kumaun Himalayas

Traditional modes of living or sustenance invariably relate to immediate and surrounding resources. Traditional people use many plant resources and have developed subtle and innovative uses for them in order to obtain maximum benefit. Traditional crop varieties and races that evolved over time through trial and error, not only provide basic nutritional requirements, but also food security. While the effects of the green revolution are conspicuous in the lower Himalayas, they are less visible in the study region, the Darma and Johaar valleys in the Kumaun Himalayas. Loss of crop biodiversity has taken place over the years, principally and inadvertently related to changing lifestyle and closure of traditional trade with Tibet after the 1962 Sino-Indian war. Added to this, is a growing demand for medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), principally Jambu (Allium stracheyii) and caraway (Carum carvi), whose acreage has increased with the concomitant decline in area under the traditional crops. In addition, the recent discovery of Yar tsa Gumba (Cordyceps sinensis) in the alpine zones of their summer homes has reduced people's interest in sowing, rearing and caring for traditional crops, viz. beans, potatoes, amaranth, whose growing season coincides with the harvesting season of Yar tsa Gumba. The present study attempts to show the causal factors behind the loss in crop biodiversity, as well as the changing lifestyle of these traditional people, vis a vis the changes in polyculture.     

Sustainable development and systems thinking: A case study of a heritage city

The concept of sustainable cities is based on a development paradigm that recognizes that cities make an important contribution to social and economic development. System thinking, including hard and soft systems, can be used to provide a new perspective and tools to resolve questions. The 500-year-old heritage city of Udaipur in India, which has traditionally maintained the spirit of living in a sustainable manner, is now seeking sustainable development. This paper attempts to analyse the issues underlying sustainable development of Udaipur by applying CATWOE in order to comprehend the systemic elements of the city from a soft systems perspective.     

Integrated ecological assessment as the basis for management of a coastal urban protected area: A case study of Xiamen,China

In the process of rapid urbanisation in China, environmental problems have increased, from sewage discharge to climate change. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely advocated as a means to comprehensively manage human activities and resources in ocean and coastal areas. However, MPAs only safeguard populations or assemblages within their boundaries and fail to offer any protection from many major threats to marine environments. An increase in environmental threats implies an increase in environmental management and assessment. We propose a methodological framework for integrated ecological assessment using the Xiamen marine protected area as a case study. The integrated ecological assessment framework can be generalised from the dimensions of environment, economy, society and institution. Surveys were undertaken to assess the state of the Xiamen coastal environment, the resources of the reserve, and issues associated with human activities. Stakeholders were interviewed about their attitudes towards issues regarding the management of the reserve. The constraints of the reserve management were identified. The methodological framework is presented as a tool to help identify relative ecological security in order to prioritise actions and assess the ecological implications of management and policy decisions.     

Ecological effects associated with land-use change in China's southwest agricultural landscape

Research on land-use and land-cover change, with associated effects on the ecoenvironment, is a key to understanding global change. The concept of 'ecosystem services' is also a hot issue in ecology and ecological economics. In this study, ecosystem service values are used to assess the ecological values of corresponding land-use types, so as to evaluate the ecological effects of regional land-use change. China's southwest agricultural landscape has unique ecological functions; but it also belongs to an ecologically fragile zone. Consequently, land-use change and associated ecological effects must be monitored to assure sustainable development of this area. Based on TM images in 1988, 1994 and 1999, the landscape classification maps of Yongsheng County were assessed using supervised classification and interactive modification methods. The transition matrix of land-use types and three indices of spatial patterns, patch-level, class-level and landscape-level indices, were calculated using models and GIS to examine the spatial patterns and dynamics of land use in the study area. The results show the influences of human activities and natural environmental elements, and that unused land has decreased rapidly, together with a continuous increase in forest during the past 11 years. There are also frequent intermediate transitions between farmland and unused land. An index for landscape diversity shows a tendency to increase, indicating that the proportions of each landscape element tended to average. Also, the decrease in the fractal dimension of unused land reveals that the effects of human activity are increasing. Ecological value calculations show that land-use change in Yongsheng County from 1988–1999 has resulted in positive ecological effects, with distinct spatial differences.     

The significance of social capital in local forest management in Laos: Overcoming latent conflict between local people and local forestry officials

Forest policies that devolve forest-use rights to local people have undergone development over the past few years in Laos. As collaboration between local people and forestry officials is seen as indispensable to effective and sustainable local forest management, the objective of this study is to clarify the issues pertinent to the resolution of latent conflict between these two stakeholders. The issues are examined by presenting two case studies in terms of forest management as perceived by local people and forestry officials; the first in a rich forest area and the second in a degraded forest. Issues relating to land and borders and social capital are identified as the most important in the degraded forest area, while social capital is a very important issue in the rich forest area. Our studies show that the problems of land and border issues in the degraded forest area were caused by an inappropriate resettlement policy. This can be interpreted as the mismanagement of social capital, and for effective local forest management it is very important to overcome problems of this nature. The effective use of social capital has so far been overlooked, however, in the establishment of collaborative forest governance at the local level.     

Comparing indoor wastewater-fed aquaculture with two conventional wastewater treatment plants using adopted sustainable process indices

Highly aggregating 'Sustainable Process Indices' (SPI) were calculated for an indoor wastewater-fed aquaculture and two conventional wastewater treatment plants to make a direct comparison between the three facilities possible. The goal was to find out which technology would be better suited for use in a sustainable economy. The SPI provides a type of 'ecological footprint' for the three facilities on the basis that, in a sustainable economy, solar energy would be our main energy source and that surface area would become the limiting factor for economic development, because the transformation of solar energy into other forms of energy, products or services requires area. SPI calculations consider the area necessary for the sustainable dissipation of byproducts and wastes of a process into the environment. The SPI thus uses area as its basic unit for comparisons between different technologies, products or services.

Energy consumption, as well as treatment performance (both the quality and quantity of treated effluent), and multi-functionality of facilities were key variables in determining how much area a wastwater treatment plant would need to be embedded sustainably into the environment. The calculated SPIs reveal that the wastewater-fed aquaculture requires the least area to be embedded sustainably into the environment, therefore, it would be better suited for use in a sustainable economy compared to the two conventional wastewater treatment plants.     

Tourism,an ecological approach in protected areas: Karagöl-Sahara National Park,Turkey

Protected areas are important potential areas from the point of view of ecological tourism because of their natural, historical and cultural richness. In this study, the environmental sustainability of protected areas has been investigated within a sample of the Karagöl-Sahara National Park in Turkey. This national park has, so far, had little exposure to recreational and tourism activities. However, an increase in the number of tourists visiting the park has been observed as a result of the demands of ecological tourism. This area was investigated with respect to ecological planning to prevent intensive usage from causing future damage, as a result of human thoughtlessness, and to protect the park. Additionally, the aim was to determine the usage potential using ecological planning and to propose variations of ecotourism thought to be helpful for the public. The Karagöl-Sahara National Park has valuable natural and cultural resources, and is an area whose recreation-tourism potential has been strongly protected. The national park also has major economic potential for ecotourism.     

Ecological engineering for water in sustainable settlements construction

The components of a water system in a settlement should benefit the residents, environment and nature. Ecological engineering for water use in settlements is crucial for designing and constructing a sustainable community. This article discusses ecological engineering measures and technology case studies in China for systematic regulation of the multiple functions of water in a sustainable community. These methods include reusing all sources of water (rainwater, wastewater and surface water), separating water that has been used for different purposes, promoting nutrient cycling, and improving the self-purification of water by controlling pollutant loads.     

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.