On the Ecological Footprint over the Hanjiang Valley Region of Upper Reaches——A case study in Meizhou city

The index systems and evaluation methods of sustainable development are currently the hot research domains in the world.There are three types of major evaluation models.Indicators based on systematic theories and methods;indicators relaying on economic valuation of the environment;and sustainability indicators including biophysical assessments.The ecological footprint analysis initiated by William E.Rees in 1992,is one of the indicators includes biophysical assessments and gets rid of the defects of the other models.It evaluates human activity effect on the global ecosystem by quantifying the biological productive areas necessary to maintain human survival.After a brief review of the ecological footprint concept and calculation method,the ecological footprint of Meizhou city and its each county district(one city,six counties and one district) for 2003 is calculated and analyzed in this paper article.The result indicates that:(1) the ecological footprint demand of Meizhou city is 1.3276hm~2·cap~(-1),while the ecological footprint supply is only 0.7076hm~2·cap~(-1),the ecological deficit is 0.6200hm~2·cap~(-1);(2)with the observation of the Ecological Footprint Demand、Supply and Deficit of Meizhou's each county district,we found,only the Wuhua County has a balance on the ecological footprint demand and supply,the ecological deficit appears in the Meijiang District,Mei County,Jiaoling County,Pingyuan County and Xingning City,while the ecological surpluses appears in the Dapu and Wuhua County;(3)larger portion of the footprint demand and deficit result from the consumption of fishing ground(0.1875,0.1850 hm~2·cap~(-1)),built-up(0.5839,0.5120 hm~2·cap~(1)) and cropland(0.5344,0.3619 hm~2·cap~(-1)),however,there is a modest surpluse of forest(0.5544 hm~2·cap~(-1)) occurred in Meizhou city,which showing that the ecological footprint of the present region in terms of human activities has already exceeded the benchmark of system ecological carrying capacity,the structure and functions of regional eco-economic system must be adjusted.Furthermore,the per capita ecological deficit reveals that the relationship between man and land is more intense.And in the support of the technology of GIS aided spatial analysis,the space distribution picture of the ecological footprint demand and supply of every region(one city,six counties and one district) in 2003 are presented in this paper too.Finally,based on the components and geographical distribution of ecological footprint,strategic policy implications are outlined for Meizhou's development towards a sustainable future.