Assessment of regional ecological security based on ecological footprint and influential factors analysis: a case study of Chongqing Municipality, China

Abstract

In recent years, it has been important to objectively evaluate the degree of regional ecological security with regard to resource depletion and to analyse influential factors to assess sustainable development. This paper tries to assess ecological security in Chongqing while investigating the main influencing factors. Calculations of the consumption footprint, production footprint and ecological capacity for Chongqing from 1996 to 2007 based on an ecological footprint approach were carried out. An ecological security index was also calculated from these results and factors influencing security were analysed using factor analysis. Both the consumption and production footprints present an upward trend, contrary to the gradually decreasing trend of ecological capacity. In addition, the ecological security index shows that Chongqing has deteriorated from a level of less risk to that of risk. Factor analysis suggests that the deterioration of ecological security could primarily be ascribed to socioeconomic factors and industrialisation. With socio-economic development and industrialisation, appropriate measures must be taken to improve the ecosystem in Chongqing so as to achieve sustainable development. The limitations of the methodology are also discussed and areas that require further research are presented.

Assessment of wetland ecosystem health in Lower Songkhram, Thailand

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“…As per PCA approach, factor rotation using the varimax method was also used to facilitate interpretation by providing a simpler factor structure with high loadings for each factor (Hair et al 2006;Singh et al 2007;Dai et al 2010).…”

Dynamic State of Ecosystem Carrying Capacity Under Island Urbanization: A Case Study of Pingtan Island in the Southeastern Coast of China

“…The status of ecological carrying capacity is a major research topic at home and abroad, but the ecological carrying capacity of islands under rapid urbanization has been rarely explored. The analysis of ecological carrying capacity aims to describe the supporting role of ecosystems in the economic activities of humans and to provide early warning of specific environmental or resource factors from a sustainable perspective for maintaining the healthy state of balance of ecosystems (Dai, Nan, & Liu, 2010;Cheng, Fu, Meng, Li, & Pei, 2018). The methods of ecological carrying capacity analysis are divided into the following categories: logistic equation method, resource supply and demand balance method (Liu & Borthwick, 2011), ecological footprint method, energy analysis, Miami model (net primary productivity model of vegetation), resource difference method (Peng, Wang, Li, & He, 2014) state space method, index system method of sustainable development, system model (statistical and system dynamic models), multi-objective programming model (Sun, Chen, & Tian, 2018), and spatial decision support of regional comprehensive carrying capacity and its rate of change is constructed to support the assessment of longterm sustainable development of regional economy on the basis of the Nantong coastal area.…”

Regional sustainability assessment and its sensitivity analysis based on ecological footprint model: A case study of Xingguo County in China

“…How to achieve the harmonious development of socio-economic and natural eco systems in China is significant (Dai et al, 2010;Bao et al, 2011;Galli et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2014). Therefore, this study takes a typical region-Xingguo County as a case study and put forward a Sustainability Index based on the ecological footprint to measure the degree of regional sustainable development.…”