Emergy-Based Sustainability Evaluation of the Mulberry-Dyke and Fish-Pond System on the South Bank of Taihu Lake, China
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Abstract:
The Taihu Lake drainage basin is the birthplace of the Mulberry-dyke and Fish-pond System (MFS), a traditional eco-agricultural system. In 2017, the largest and best-preserved “Zhejiang Huzhou Mulberry-dyke and Fish-pond System” located by the South Bank of Taihu Lake, China was recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and its value has been appreciated. As a dynamic heritage, the sustainable development of MFS is a fundamental requirement of the conservation of GIAHS. In this regard, it is necessary to figure out an approach to evaluating the status of its sustainable development. This paper analyzes and contrasts the emergy embodied in the three patterns of MFS over different periods, then constructs an index system of sustainability evaluation involving the production and consumption processes based on that. Finally, it provides the evaluation and analysis. The three patterns of MFS differ in the system structure. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties (abbreviated as Ming-Qing pattern), MFS was an integrated system compromised of mulberry cultivation, silkworm breeding, fish breeding, and sheep breeding, while other patterns exclude sheep breeding, but increase the input of fertilizer, and add the production of mulberry-leaf tea and other local specialties. The results show that the MFS in the Ming-Qing pattern has the highest integrated evaluation index of sustainable development, followed by the traditional MFS pattern and the new MFS pattern employed nowadays. This indicates that the current capability of sustainable development has decreased compared to that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The integrated evaluation index regarding the consumption process of the new MFS pattern is higher than the traditional one, suggesting that it needs to promote sustainability in the production process, especially via the utilization rates of renewable resources and wastes.Keywords:
Emergy
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Emergy
Environmental Sustainability Index
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Environmental Sustainability Index
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The concept of emergy and its use for comparing with energy were discussed in this paper. Emergy was defined as the amount of available energy required directly and indirectly to make a product or services, and emergy analysis was based on the solar emergy units (solar emjoules). Emergy provided the methodology with a common basis for measuring the value of different kinds of energy, and for evaluating the contributions from nature and humanity. A comparison of emergy analysis with previous energy analysis was also performed.
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Using the emergy analysis method,we conduct trend analysis of changes in the total emergy,input and output structure,various emergy indicators of agro-ecosystem in Hunan Province during the period 1999-2008.The results show that during the study period,total emergy input basically remained stable,but the emergy input structure was constantly optimized,of which the input of non-renewable industrial assistant emergy increased by 38.4%,from 4.00E +22 sej to 5.53E +22 sej,and the input of renewable organic emergy declined from 1.32E +23 sej to 1.20E + 23 sej;total emergy yield and yield efficiency of this system were promoted dramatically,and in 2008,the total emergy yield reached 1.69E +23 sej,increasing by 23.8% as against that in 1999,the net emergy yield ratio rose from 0.79 to 0.96;since the environmental loading ratio also tended to rise constantly,from 1.12 to 1.79,the sustainability index of this system also experienced the slow downward trend,from 0.71 to 0.54,always less than 1,indicating that the agriculture in Hunan Province is the high consumption-driven ecosystem in general,with obvious features of extensive development.
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