基于生态足迹深度和广度的中国自然资本利用省际格局

自然资本利用的分类测度是可持续发展领域的前沿议题。基于改进的区域足迹深度和区域足迹广度两项指标,分析了2008年中国自然资本利用的省际格局,并对30个省级行政区(由于数据所限,不含西藏、香港、澳门、台湾)进行了聚类划分。结果表明:①存量资本与流量资本的利用状况具有显著的地域互补性,存量资本消耗水平由西向东呈递增态势,而流量资本占用水平由西向东则呈递减态势;②30个省份的自然资本利用状况聚为4类,包括重度利用型1个,中度利用型17个,轻度利用型4个,相对滞后型8个;③自然资本利用的省际格局具有明显的地域集聚性,东部和中部地区以中度利用型为主,西北地区以相对滞后型为主,西南地区以轻度利用型为主。研究表明,自然资本利用省际格局的形成,受资源禀赋、经济水平、土地利用、产业布局等诸多因素影响。应结合各省的具体特点及所处的格局类型,因地制宜地推行自然资本分区管理。

Provincial Pattern of China' s Natural Capital Use: A Modification and Application of Ecological Footprint Depth and Size

Distinguishing and measuring natural capital use is one of the key research priorities for sustainable community. Two modified indictors-regional footprint depth and regional footprint size, as the basis for accounting for depletion of natural capital stocks and appropriation of natural capital flows, respectively, were selected to represent the provincial pattern of China’s natural capital use in 2008. Then cluster analysis was conducted to classify China’s provincial regions (not including Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan due to no data) according to the above attributes. The results are drawn as follows: 1) Obviously there is a geographical complementarity between the depletion of stocks and the appropriation of flows. From the western region to the eastern region, the former (footprint depth) shows an ascending trend from 1.58 in Gansu to 9.48 in Tianjin, while the latter (footprint size) indicates a descending trend from 3.05 hm² in Inner Mongolia to 0.12 hm² in Shanghai. 2) Thirty provinces are classified into four patterns, i.e., the natural capital heavily used (one province is involved), the natural capital moderately used (17 provinces are involved), the natural capital slightly used (four provinces are involved), and the stocks relatively slowly depleted (eight provinces are involved). 3) The provincial pattern of natural capital use presents a significant geographical clustering. The eastern and central regions mainly belong to the area of natural capital moderately used, while the northwestern region basically belongs to the area of stocks relatively slowly depleted, and a majority of the southeastern region belongs to the natural capital slightly used. It is indicated that factors leading to provincial pattern of natural capital use are rather complicated, in particular the resources endowment, economic level, land use and industrial allocation. To achieve an optimal allocation of China’s natural capital in the coming decades, it first requires a policy of regional management that builds on the distribution characteristics of natural capital rather than the administrative boundaries.